News

MarkLogic NoSQL Database for Big Data Adds Java, REST APIs

• By David Ramel
• September 20, 2012

MarkLogic earlier this week announced an upgrade of its enterprise NoSQL database offering, adding Java and REST APIs in addition to its native XML data model and XQuery programming/query language.

With the addition of the Java API to MarkLogic 6, the company said developers can now use popular tools such as the Eclipse IDE and the Model-View-Controller modeling technique.

The company said the REST API opens up even more possibilities. "If you're not writing in Java -- if you're writing in Ruby or PHP or any language that can call out over HTTP -- you can use the REST API," Stephen Buxton, director of product management, told this site. "And if you're writing in a JSON-centric language such as JavaScript, MarkLogic handles both XML and JSON," he said. "So, for example, you can do a query over richly structured XML and get the results back as JSON."

Buxton also emphasized an increased integrated analytics capability. He said the company added in-database MapReduce functions to support parallel common analytic operations across a cluster. "We've also added the capability to write your own analytic plugins," Buxton said. "You can now write C++ code that gets dynamically linked in to the MarkLogic Server executable. You get C++ APIs that let you write your own map and reduce functions, and you get C++ APIs that let you directly interrogate MarkLogic's in-memory range indexes."

The analytics are further improved with "out-of-the-box integration with IBM Cognos and Tableau," according to a news release.

MarkLogic 6 also beefed up its co-occurrence query capabilities, the company said. Previously, such queries -- which find value pairs that reside in the same document -- could run against two in-memory range indexes. Now, such queries can be run against any number of indexes and any type.

The database includes new ways to visualize the results of such search and analytic logic. Buxton said: "You can very easily visualize the results using a set of widgets that give you charts, graphs and map plots. In fact, MarkLogic 6 includes a complete GUI Application Builder, so a non-programmer can create a simple application with point-and-click. Since the Application Builder output is a REST application, it can be extended by any application programmer."

Regarding the addition of the new Java and REST APIs, Buxton said the company plans to add more APIs to the product, "depending upon interest and demand."

MarkLogic 6 is now available for download, and more technical details and datasheets can be found online, along with various tutorials on using the database with Java, REST, XQuery and more. No pricing details are available on the Web site. Prospective users can try out the download and afterward talk to sales reps for customized pricing for specific deployments.