• Strings (characters within quotes, "Hi my name is Liz.")
• Numbers (numeral characters - 1, 3, 27, 49)
• Boolean (true or false)
• Arrays(Lists of anything ["Hello", 27, "Arugula"])
• Objects (key-value pairs)

An object looks like this:

{
    "name" : "value", 
    "property" : "value",
    "age" : "35",
    "weight" : "180",
    "favorite_foods" : ["Artichoke", "Alphalpha", "Anchovies"],
    "favorite_books" : [{"title": "Moby Dick", "author" : "Hermann Melville"}, {"title" : "Where the Wild Things Are", "author" : "Maurice Sendak"}]
}
                        

Often, data is "nested" in "hierarchies" of objects within objects.

• Plain Text (.txt)
• CSV (.csv)
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
• Relational Database (SQL, Oracle)
• Non-Relational Database (MongoDB, Cassandra, etc)

car = {
    "name": "Herby",
    "make": "Volkswagen",
    "model": "Bug",
    "purpose": "Love",
    "engineType": "Back",
    "color": "Stripes",
    "year": "1970"
}

car = {
    "name": "Herby",
    "make": "Volkswagen",
    "model": "Bug",
    "purposes": ["Love", "Driving around", "Saving people?"],
    "engine": {"location": "Back", "cylinders": 4, "fuel-injected": false, "loud": true},
    "description": {"paint_profile": "Stripes", "colors": ["black", "white", "silver"], "attitude": "sassy"},
    "year": "1970"
}

Data can limit your capabilities, or expand them.

Grouping similar pieces of data together helps you stay organized, and helps the computer use it faster and easier. It also helps engineers program things more efficiently.

if (car.engine.loud == true && car.description.attitude == "sassy") {
    console.log("I think Herby the love bug is comin' down the road!");
}
                    

Let's try to model these books together.

What unique properties do they have? What properties do they share?

What does it mean to be a book?

{
title: "",
author: "",
length: "",
ISBN: "",
cover: "",
language: "",
customer_rating: "",
tags: "",
amazon_link: "http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/1400069289/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355257104&sr=8-1&keywords=power+of+habit"
}
                        

{
title: "",
author: "",
length: "",
ISBN: "",
cover: "",
language: "",
customer_rating: "",
tags: "",
amazon_link: "http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Parallel-Universes-Dimension/dp/0195085140/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1355257238&sr=1-1",
amazon_link2:"http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Odyssey-Parallel-Universes/dp/0385477058/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=N55WK4E5RGPM&coliid=I39ORQQR1YUM18"
}
                        

Usually we try to go from generality - what does everything share in common, to specific - what makes everything unique?

Asking "what does something have to have at minimum to be this type of thing?" is a good way to find out a lot about your models.

Schema.org did a lot of this - check them out for some examples.

Or... How does a non-relational DB work?

• One-to-One
• One-to-Many
• Many-to-One
• Many-to-Many

Let's try to model recipes together.

How are Foods and Recipes related?
Foods can appear in multiple recipes, so it makes sense not to duplicate foods.

Questions to ask:

• What does it mean to be an object? (duuuuuude.)
• If I split these objects up, what does that mean for related data?
• If I create a relationship, what does that mean for related data?
• If I create a hierarchy, what does that mean for sub-objects? Related data?
• Will this allow me to do more things later, or restrict what I can do later?
• Is it worth the time right now to have an existential crisis about this?! (Usually not.)

"It is better to have a codebase you're moderately ashamed of that's full of hacks than nothing at all."
- Ancient Native American Proverb

• Schema.org - A bunch of geeks (one of whom I live with) decided to write down once and for all what you need at minimum to be anything.
• A super technical essay at agiledata.org
• A whole amazing course on Coursera.org that will teach you this in far more detail than I ever could. (I signed up for this course, if you'd like to study for it with me!)