In this episode, Adam is talks to Alex DeBrie about DynamoDB, and how it compares to relational databases like MySQL.

Show Notes

Topics include:

• Does DynamoDB only make sense for things like your cache, or is it a good choice for a primary data store?
• An overview of the terminology used in DynamoDB and how the terminology compares to a relational database
• How primary keys work in DynamoDB
• What data types are available in DynamoDB
• How DynamoDB is a schemaless database
• Why it's important to understand your access patterns in advance with DynamoDB, unlike in a relational database
• Understanding why and how you usually have multiple record types in a single DynamoDB table
• What "index overloading" is in DynamoDB
• Understanding partition keys and sort keys
• How to structure your data in DynamoDB to make it possible to query related data, and how those queries work
• How secondary indexes work, allowing you to access the same data in different ways
• How to accommodate access patterns you didn't know about before you designed your schema
• When to flatten relationships vs. nest them
• Should you use DynamoDB if you aren't "web-scale"?
• How local development works with DynamoDB

Links:

• DynamoDB Homepage
• Alex's blog, loaded with great DynamoDB content
• The DynamoDB Book, Alex's recent book
• DynamoDB Guide

Supporting the show:

If you do want to support the show, the best way to do it is to purchase one of my products:

• Tailwind UI, a collection of professionally designed, fully responsive HTML components built with Tailwind CSS
• Refactoring UI, a book and video series I put together with Steve Schoger on designing beautiful user interfaces, without relying on a designer.
• Advanced Vue Component Design, a course on designing simpler, more flexible Vue components that are both more powerful and easier to maintain.
• Test-Driven Laravel, a massive video course on designing robust Laravel applications with TDD. Learn how to build a real-world application from scratch without writing a single line of untested code.
• Refactoring to Collections, a book and video course that teaches you how to apply functional programming principles to break down ugly, complex code into simple transformations — free of loops, complex conditionals, and temporary variables.

What is Full Stack Radio?

A podcast for developers interested in building great software products. Every episode, Adam Wathan is joined by a guest to talk about everything from product design and user experience to unit testing and system administration.