**The document is the natural representation of data**. We only broke data up into rows and columns back in the 70s as a way to optimize data access. Back then, storage and compute power was expensive and so it made sense to use developer time to reduce the data set into a schema of rows and column, interlinked by relationships and then normalized between tables to reduce duplication. This process was cost-effective then and so it came to dominate database thinking.
That domination means that many people accept the burden of defining rows and columns as an essential part of using databases. In many ways though, relational databases are still expecting the designer and developer to pre-chew the data for easier processing by the database.
## The Document Alternative
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