SQL and NoSQL

Users who eschew traditional relational databases in favor of the newly emerging NoSQL databases might be "throwing the baby out with the bath water," warned a database pioneer before a roomful of NoSQL advocates.

Instead, SQL (Structured Query Language) can be adopted to newer systems with a few technical adjustments, giving it the full flexibility of NoSQL systems, argued Michael Stonebraker, CTO of distributed database software company VoltDB.

Stonebraker, making his argument at the NoSQL Now conference being held this week in San Jose, California, called this approach NewSQL.

While Stonebraker's company itself offers

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13 essential programming tools for the mobile Web ( part 1 )

When it comes to programming for mobile devices, choice quickly becomes dilemma. Do you target the lucrative iPhone market at the expense of Android's rising tide? Do you go native or write code to the mobile Web? And while a single stack of code that performs optimally on an increasingly wide array of platforms, form factors, and devices would be the dream, the reality is a fragmented trial in which rudimentary tasks can often be a challenge.

But with challenges and opportunity come curious minds. And the crop of developers turning their attention to building out mobile tools and libraries are quickly establishing a vibrant ecosystem to aid mobile developers -- especially those who've chosen to target the mobile Web.

For a time, this set was limited. But the promise of HTML5 has opened many developers' eyes to the mobile Web's myriad advantages over trying to install native software on the device.

First, websites are open. There is no need to play "mother may I" with the App Store approval team when the

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