What is a characteristic of a non-relational database?

Question

Options

• Afull support for Transact-SQL
• Ba fixed schema
• Cself-describing entities

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  3% (1)
• C
  94% (32)

Explanation

Non-relational (NoSQL) databases store data as self-describing entities - each record carries its own structure (e.g., a JSON document includes both field names and values), so no external schema definition is needed to interpret the data.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Transact-SQL): T-SQL is Microsoft's SQL dialect, specific to relational systems like SQL Server. NoSQL databases don't use SQL as their query language.
• B (Fixed schema): A fixed (rigid) schema is a hallmark of relational databases, where every row must conform to predefined columns. NoSQL's flexibility - allowing each document to have different fields - is precisely what distinguishes it.

Memory tip: Think "NoSQL = No fixed Schema." Each entity in a document store like MongoDB describes itself inline, so you can add new fields to one document without affecting any other. If you see "schema-on-read" or "schema-less," that's a NoSQL signal.

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