Introduction to MongoDB

Introduction to MongoDB in Python

Filip Schouwenaars

Machine Learning Researcher

Data is everywhere!

Example: Student course data

student_id	name	course_code	title
1	Amina	CS101	Intro to Coding
1	Amina	MATH201	Algebra Basics
2	Luca	CS101	Intro to Coding

How to store data

Students

student_id	name
1	Amina
2	Luca

How to store data

Students

student_id	name
1	Amina
2	Luca

Courses

course_code	title
CS101	Intro to Coding
MATH201	Algebra Basics

How to store data

Students

student_id	name
1	Amina
2	Luca

Enrollments

student_id	course_code
1	CS101
1	MATH201
2	CS101

Courses

course_code	title
CS101	Intro to Coding
MATH201	Algebra Basics

Relational model

Used by relational databases
Examples: MySQL, PostgreSQL

When relational databases fall short

Great for structured, consistent data
What about complex, variable data?
More tables needed for extra details
Becomes harder to manage as things grow

schematic

Enter MongoDB

Document-based, not table-based
Flexible: each record can look different
No strict schema required
Store nested, structured data easily

BSON, a special kind of JSON

BSON = Binary JSON
Similar, but faster and more efficient
Extra data types like Date and Binary
MongoDB uses BSON under the hood

Connecting to MongoDB

from pymongo import MongoClient


# Create client (localhost)
client = MongoClient()


# Create client (remote server)
client2 = MongoClient("mongodb+srv://usr:[email protected]")

Let's practice!

Introduction to MongoDB in Python