SQL, the standard-issue and widely understood language for database work, isn’t supported by most document databases, so those with existing database expertise must start from scratch.

Cloud Firestore originated with Firebase, the division of Google Cloud that develops services for app makers. It became a part of the tech giant through an acquisition in 2014.

So-called “NoSQL” technology seems to run counter to those strengths. But in reality, NoSQL is building momentum of its own, and providing the familiarity and power of SQL is how it’s being ...

The NoSQL taxonomy supports key-value stores, document store, BigTable, and graph databases. MongoDB, for example, uses a document model, which can be thought of as a row in a RDBMS.

SQL database is a relational database. The basic quality of NoSQL is that it may not require fixed table schemas, usually avoid join operations, and typically scale horizontally.

Like so many technology debates before it, the SQL/NoSQL debate may soon enter the realm of great technology disagreements as Mac versus PC, fieldbus versus Ethernet, and PC versus PLC-based control.