Data Models Explained: Relational vs Document, Trade-offs and History

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The object-relational impedance mismatch describes the awkward translation layer needed when mapping object-oriented application code to relational database tables of rows and columns. To handle multi-entry fields like job history, developers traditionally used separate linked tables, though modern approaches allow storing structured JSON or XML data within a single row for better locality. Storing data as standardized IDs rather than plain text improves consistency, reduces ambiguity, and enables localization and better search. IBM's IMS, the dominant database of the 1970s, used a hierarchical model similar to today's JSON document model but struggled with many-to-many relationships, a challenge that persists in modern document databases. The relational model eventually prevailed over the competing network model, offering native JOIN support and better handling of complex relationships, while document models offer schema flexibility and performance advantages through data locality.

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