Database Reference
In-Depth Information
MongoDB through
the JavaScript shell
In this chapter
CRUD operations in the MongoDB shell
Building indexes and using
explain()
Getting help
The previous chapter hinted at the experience of running MongoDB. If you're
ready for a more hands-on introduction, this is it. Using the MongoDB shell, this
chapter teaches the database's basic concepts through a series of exercises. You'll
learn how to create, read, update, and delete (
CRUD
) documents and, in the pro-
cess, get to know MongoDB's query language. In addition, we'll take a preliminary
look at database indexes and how they're used to optimize queries. Then we'll end
the chapter by exploring some basic administrative commands, and I'll suggest a
few ways of getting help as you continue on. Think of this chapter as both an elabo-
ration of the concepts already introduced and as a practical tour of the most com-
mon tasks performed from the MongoDB shell.
If you're completely new to MongoDB's shell, know that it provides all the fea-
tures that you'd expect of such a tool; it allows you to examine and manipulate data
and administer the database server itself. Where it differs from similar tools is in its
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