Storing Data in MySQL as JSON
I thought this was a n00b thing to do. And, so, I've never done it. Then I saw that FriendFeed did this and actually made their DB scale better and decreased latency. I'm curious if I should do this. And, if so, what's the right way to do it?
Basically, what's a good place to learn how to store everything in MySQL as a CouchDB sort of DB? Storing everything as JSON seems like it'd be easier and quicker (not to build, less latency).
Also, is it easy to edit, delete, etc., things stored as JSON on the DB?
Answer
Everybody commenting seems to be coming at this from the wrong angle, it is fine to store JSON code via PHP in a relational DB and it will in fact be faster to load and display complex data like this, however you will have design considerations such as searching, indexing etc.
The best way of doing this is to use hybrid data, for example if you need to search based upon datetime MySQL (performance tuned) is going to be a lot faster than PHP and for something like searching distance of venues MySQL should also be a lot faster (notice searching not accessing). Data you do not need to search on can then be stored in JSON, BLOB or any other format you really deem necessary.
Data you need to access is very easily stored as JSON for example a basic per-case invoice system. They do not benefit very much at all from RDBMS, and could be stored in JSON just by json_encoding($_POST['entires']) if you have the correct HTML form structure.
I am glad you are happy using MongoDB and I hope that it continues to serve you well, but don't think that MySQL is always going to be off your radar, as your app increases in complexity you may well end up needing an RDBMS for some functionality and features (even if it is just for retiring archived data or business reporting)