Month: October 2013

Quick Start: MongoDB in less than 60 seconds #2

 
If you took my advice from the other day and had a look at MongoDB’s excellent Web Shell then you’ve probably tried out a few commands, maybe even worked through a bit of the tutorial. But you’re not only a busy developer, you’re an experienced developer. You know your way around and you don’t want to waste time with superfluous details. You want answers and you want them now. You can handle the truth. In short, what you want is a quick reference guide.

When it comes to quick reference guides I have 2 requirements (apart from the content being half decent):

  1. They must be printable on regular sized (A4) paper.
    This makes PDF my preferred format.
    As a bonus, this also makes them easy to store, search and annotate in Evernote.
  2. They must be readable.
    I’m too old to be squinting at an illegible, 8 point font.

So, bearing those criteria in mind, here are the best of the free MongoDB quick reference guides:

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Level Up! MongoDB presentation slides

 

These are the slides from a 60-minute presentation I gave at CFCAMP in Munich, Germany on 15th October, 2013.

The blurb for the presentation was: “The new generation of NoSQL databases offer unprecedented flexibility and ease-of-use when compared to their more traditional, relational rivals. Discover how adding the powerful features of market-leading NoSQL database MongoDB to your skill set can make your ColdFusion development both more productive and more enjoyable.”

The presentation was made to a group of ColdFusion developers with little to no experience of MongoDB or any other NoSQL database.
After a brief introduction to MongoDB, the product and company, the emphasis was on the practicalities of using MongoDB to perform the everyday CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete) operations.

A lot of these slides will not make much sense without the talk to go with them but there you go – it was a presentation not a book reading.

As may be apparent, I am a developer not a designer.

Posted on by David Waterston 0

Quick Start: MongoDB in less than 60 seconds #1

 
If you’re keen to try out MongoDB but don’t have the time (< 5 minutes) or the permissions to install it on your desktop or server then the MongoDB Web Shell may just be what you’ve been looking for.

MongoDB Web Shell
MongoDB Web Shell in action

Built to emulate the Shell app that ships with MongoDB, the Web Shell is a simple-to-use, free, web-based tool that gives you access to a subset of the full list of shell commands. Yes, your session (and data) is lost when you leave the site but if all you want is a sandbox where you can quickly and easily try out some commands this the place for you.

Bonus: it also comes with a basic tutorial for beginners and some help text.


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Level Up! 8 resources for a developer getting started with MongoDB

 
At the end of my presentation at CFCAMP 2013 I mention a number of resources for ColdFusion developers that can accelerate their understanding and adoption of MongoDB. Below are the 8 most useful of these resources.

If you…

1. Buy only one book

MongoDB: The Definitive Guide (2nd Edition)
Kristina Chodorow
(Oreilly, May 2013)
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920028031.do

2. Read only one ‘getting started’ tutorial

Getting Started with MongoDB by Mathew Setter
Part 1: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/databases/getting-started-with-mongodb
Part 2: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/databases/getting-started-with-mongodb-part-2

These tutorials were written in early 2012 so they don’t cover all of the latest features (such as the Aggregation Framework) but they are still an excellent resource for any experienced developer who just needs a quick introduction to MongoDB CRUD operations.

3. Take only one online course

M101JS: MongoDB for Node.js Developers
MongoDB University
https://education.mongodb.com/courses/10gen/M101JS/2013_October/about

MongoDB Inc (formerly 10Gen) offer a number of excellent, and free, online courses for developers. These typically last 7 weeks with each week covering a different aspect of Mongo. A certificate is awarded on successful completion of the course homework and final exam (currently around 20% of students pass).

There are other developer courses offered using Python or Java but the real focus is on MongoDB so knowledge of the language is not as important as it might appear. Each course gives a brief introduction to the language being used so this is also a good opportunity to get to know Node.js.

4. Follow only one Twitter feed

@mongodbinc

The official Twitter feed of MongoDB, Inc.

5. Join only one Google+ community

MongoDB

6. Subscribe to only one email newsletter

MongoDB News

My own email newsletter, dedicated to bringing developers a comprehensive round-up of the best apps, tools, blog posts, tutorials and resources.

The first issue will be mailed out on Monday, 4th of November, 2013 and then every two weeks thereafter.

7. Use only one Cloud hosted environment for your MongoDB database

MongoHQ

Easy to set up, fast, reliable and with a free tier that is more than suitable for development work and experimenting.

8. Use only one third-party driver to connect ColdFusion to MongoDB

CFMongoDB

This open source driver for ColdFusion is a wrapper to the official MongoDB Inc Java driver and actively maintained.

Posted on by David Waterston 1

{MONGODB NEWS}

{MONGODB NEWS} is a new, fortnightly email of curated links for MongoDB developers.

MongoDB News signup page

 
Earlier today I made public the signup page for a new project of mine. {MONGODB NEWS} is an email of curated links that are of interest to developers using the MongoDB datastore. Every two weeks I shall pick some of my favourite tools, blog posts, books and more. The emphasis will be on resources that make the life of the MongoDB developer easier, more productive and more enjoyable.

The first issue is published on Monday, 4th of November, 2013 but you can sign up now to make sure it arrives nice and fresh in your mailbox. All you’ll ever receive is one mail per fortnight, I’ll never spam you and I won’t sell or give your email address to anyone else. Mailing is handled by MailChimp so there is a hassle-free and instant unsubscribe. If you can’t wait until November, or you prefer a more frequent stream of MongoDB info, I also have a Twitter feed (you can see it on the right hand side of this page).

If you know of any interesting MongoDB related items I should consider for the mailing, please let me know via Twitter or email (david@mongodbnews.com).


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