Not too long ago, I was fortunate enough to have worked for Couchbase Inc. with the developer solutions team. In my role as a developer advocate, I had two primary responsibilities: maintaining the Couchbase .NET SDK and training Couchbase users on how to develop for Couchbase Server.

During my tenure on the SDK team, I worked with hundreds of developers around the world who were using Couchbase Server for a wide variety of solutions. Some were using Couchbase Server for its distributed caching abilities, while others needed a model that could support near-real-time analytics over a flexible schema. I was always impressed with Couchbase Server's ability to handle such a vast number of development scenarios.

Through the countless meetings I had with the development community and customers alike, it became clear to me that NoSQL is far from a technology fad. Along with cloud computing and mobile services, NoSQL has become a part of the fabric from which modern applications are woven.

As with relational databases before them, NoSQL databases such as Couchbase Server are quickly nearing the "required knowledge" status for application developers. Modern applications that need to reach a massive scale or require greater data model flexibility have found success with non-relational systems.

It is a tremendous opportunity to be able to share my experience at Couchbase with you, the reader. This is an exciting technology, and this book contains the tools you need to get started with Couchbase development.