The technology hype of 2010 was clearly NoSQL, which proved to be more of a brand-name than a technical term.

Today in his tech blog, Bozho set out his view that NoSQL is probably not a good choice for startups that don’t know yet where their database and application bottlenecks are:

But an important downside of NoSQL solutions, which is mentioned by most sources (twitter, facebook, rackspace) is that in NoSQL (at least for Cassandra and HBase) you must know what will be the questions that you will be asking upfront. You can’t just query anything you like. … And I can bet that a startup does not yet know all the questions it is about to ask its data store.

I wrote a similar conclusion in a feature article in September’s php|architect. Relational data modeling is driven by data, and there are mathematical rules of normalization that guide this process. Whereas nonrelational data modeling has no formal rules. It’s driven by the queries you need to support. Either you define your schema up front, or you define your usage of data up front, or else you set yourself up for a lot of sub-optimal queries and laborious database refactoring. You find yourself writing lots of code to reinvent the wheels that SQL gives you for free, and before long you’ve unwittingly reinvented the relational database.

There were also a few high-profile walk-backs and failures associated with NoSQL adoption in 2010. The most dramatic was the implosion of Digg after it launched a ground-up rewrite, architected around Cassandra. It turns out that no secret sauce can compensate for bad business decisions.

And who can forget the instantly-classic viral video MongoDB is Web Scale?
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing — the more little, the more dangerous.

In spite of this, I’m sure in 2011 we’ll hear some new claims of a panacea that puts a “turbo button” on your web server, supposedly obsoleting quaint, old-fashioned habits like thoughtful architecture, design, testing, and monitoring. I wonder what the miracle technology will be this time?

Today, the PHP community mourns the passing of a friend. Three weeks ago, Richard Thomas, community member and friend to all who knew him passed away. I had planned on writing this post today and am ashamed that I put it off so long. Thanks to Jeff Moore’s post and Paul M. Jones’s post I was reminded of my duty to my friend.

I didn’t know Richard as well as some. I hung out with him on IRC and we swapped work horror stories and coding tips whenever we met at conferences. I was privileged to see him just days before he passed when we were both at CodeWorks Portland. I got to talk to him for a bit at lunch and between sessions. Sadly for me, that conversations centered around topics so trivial that I don’t even recall the details, just that fact that it was with Richard.

From Jeff’s blog:

Richard is survived by his wife Lisa and four year old daughter Nicollette. Donations are being accepted to assist them. Even if you haven’t had contact with Richard, consider making a donation if you’ve done freelance work, as Richard was doing at the time of his death. Donations can be sent to: Niki Fund, 4818 Davis Place #G, Renton WA, 98055

While I never like to hijack a moment, Paul made an excellent point on his post that I’ll repost here for all because it is sagely advice from a man I highly respect.

And now, a practical note: A lot of PHP folk out there are freelancers or independent consultants, or are in other kinds of unstable job situations. If you are one of these, and you have a family, *please* consider purchasing term life insurance to take care of your loved ones if you pass suddenly. Get it even if you are very young. It is not expensive. It’s not the only thing you should do to prepare, but it’s an important thing.

Richard died at his computer doing what he loved, programming. We will miss you Richard, the world is a little darker place without you.