Overview

Relational database management systems (RDBMS) offer an intuitive user interface, making them accessible even to those with limited experience. They organize data into tables that interrelate.

Non-relational database management systems, on the other hand, provide a specialized interface tailored primarily for developers. They store data in distinctive formats, not in tables. Of these formats, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) stands out as the most prevalent.

Main Differences

For illustration, consider two datasets named "student" with the fields: id, name, surname, and age. Below is how these datasets might be represented in both relational and non-relational database contexts:

Data in non-relational databases often resemble dictionary-like structures, akin to those in Python. Below is an example showcasing this relationship:

Here, we have student data associated with the group BG1. Unlike relational systems, there's no direct linkage present. The non-relational system (or NoSQL DBMS) is responsible for identifying this association.

We'll dive deeper into the intricacies of relational databases as we progress in this course.