Columns versus Rows

Filed in archive Concepts on January 11, 2009

In an attempt to bring the column oriented storage closer to the readers, I've managed to find a series of really great explanations about these two distinct storage schemes. While still theoretical these will definitely serve as a good and thorough (but not so hard to read) explanation on the subject matter. Once we got through these we'll see some more practical things in the next posts. Here's the list of my findings:

• Column stores vs. Indexes - debunks myths about column stores and how why they are not equivalent to indexes


• Column stores vs Vertical Partitioning - describes the difference between the two, and why vertical partitioning so common nowadays is inferior


• Row-store vs Column store (PDF) - a SIGMOD paper on why Row store is not and will never be a Column store

The last of these links contains interesting benchmark results which will definitely make you think and maybe reconsider your approach when it comes to managing your data.