arangodb/Documentation/Books/Users/FirstSteps

!CHAPTER What is ArangoDB?

For installation instructions, please refer to the 
[Installation Manual](../Installing/README.md).

As you know from the introduction ArangoDB is a multi-purpose open-source Database. Following you can see the Key features or look at the programs in the ArangoDB package. 

Key features include:

- *Schema-free schemata*: Let you combine the space efficiency of MySQL with
  the performance power of NoSQL
- *Application server*: Use ArangoDB as an application server and fuse your application and
  database together for maximal throughput
- *JavaScript for all*: No language zoo, you can use one language from your
  browser to your back-end
- *Flexible data modeling*: Model your data as combination of key-value pairs,
  documents or graphs - perfect for social relations
- *Free index choice*: Use the correct index for your problem, may it be a skip
  list or a fulltext search 
- *Configurable durability*: Let the application decide if it needs more
  durability or more performance
- *No-nonsense storage*: ArangoDB uses all of the power of modern storage
  hardware, like SSD and large caches
- *Powerful query language* (AQL) to retrieve data 
- *Transactions*: Run queries on multiple documents or collections with 
  optional transactional consistency and isolation
- *Replication*: Set up the database in a master-slave configuration
- It is open source (*Apache Licence 2.0*)

For more in-depth information:

- Read more on the 
  [Design Goals](http://www.arangodb.org/2012/03/07/avocadodbs-design-objectives) 
  of ArangoDB
- [Watch the video](http://vimeo.com/36411892): Martin Schönert, 
  architect of ArangoDB, gives an introduction of what the ArangoDB project 
  is about
- Or give it a [try](http://www.arangodb.org/try)


!SECTION ArangoDB programs 

The ArangoDB package comes with the following programs:

- _arangod_: The ArangoDB database daemon. This server program is
  intended to run as daemon process and to server the various clients
  connection to the server via TCP / HTTP. See [Details about the ArangoDB Server](../FirstSteps/Arangod.md) 
- _arangosh_: The ArangoDB shell. A client that implements a
  read-eval-print loop (REPL) and provides functions to access and
  administrate the ArangoDB server. See [Details about the ArangoDB Shell](../FirstSteps/Arangosh.md).
- _arangoimp_: A bulk importer for the ArangoDB server
  See [Details about Arangoimp](../Arangoimp/README.md).
- _arangodump_: A tool to create backups of an ArangoDB database. See
   [Details about Arangodump](../Arangodump/README.md).
- _arangorestore_: A tool to reload data from a backup into an ArangoDB database.
  See  [Details about Arangorestore](../ArangoRestore/README.md).
- _foxx-manager_: A shell script to administer Foxx applications.
  See [Foxx Manager](../FoxxManager/README.md)
- _arango-dfdb_: A datafile debugger for ArangoDB. It is intended to be
  used primarily during development of ArangoDB. See @ref DbaManualDatafileDebugger