Column-Oriented Storage
Column-oriented storage is a data storage technique where data is organized by columns rather than rows, storing all values from a single column contiguously on disk. This contrasts with traditional row-oriented storage, which stores all columns of a row together. It is commonly used in data warehouses and analytical databases to optimize for read-heavy workloads involving aggregations and queries over large datasets.
Developers should learn and use column-oriented storage when building or working with systems that require high-performance analytical queries, such as business intelligence, data warehousing, or big data analytics. It excels in scenarios where queries involve scanning specific columns (e.g., SUM or AVG operations) rather than accessing entire rows, as it reduces I/O and improves compression efficiency. This makes it ideal for applications like financial reporting, log analysis, and real-time dashboards.