If you are stepping into the world of data engineering or analytics, you have likely been hit with a wave of storage buzzwords like data lake and data warehouse . In this article, we will demystify these terms so you can understand exactly where your data belongs.

Database

Imagine you just launched a business. You need a system to record daily operations every time a customer buys a product, updates their password or submits a support ticket. This is the job of a standard Database .

A database is a collection of structured or unstructured data stored in a computer system, managed by a Database Management System (DBMS).

Databases are most useful for small, atomic transactions and typically contain only the most up-to-date information. Common types include:

Relational (SQL) Databases for structured data as in tables with fixed rows and columns. Examples include Postgresql, MySQL

Non-relational (NoSQL) Databases for unstructured data like JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), documents.…