MongoDB and Python gang thegither!

After a couple of recent posts on MongoLab and Python, I guess it was pretty obvious to mix both :) The only thing you need to add to your system is PyMongo, the Python driver for MongoDB. If you're using Linux or MacOS, it should be as easy as:


$ sudo easy_install pymongo

Searching for pymongo
Best match: pymongo 2.5.2
Processing pymongo-2.5.2-py2.7-macosx-10.8-intel.egg

Adding pymongo 2.5.2 to easy-install.pth file

Using /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pymongo-2.5.2-py2.7-macosx-10.8-intel.egg
Processing dependencies for pymongo
Finished processing dependencies for pymongo

Let's try some basic stuff first. You'll just need to use your own username, password, URI, database and collection :)

# Python 2.7
from pymongo import *
connection = MongoClient("mongodb://USERNAME:PASSWORD@ds051067.mongolab.com:51067/mongolab-test", 51067)
db = connection["mongolab-test"]
c = db["collection1"]
posts = c.find()
for post in posts:
print (post)

Output:
{u'x': 1.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf0')}
{u'x': 2.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf1')}
{u'x': 3.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf2')}
output removed from brevity
{u'x': 25.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32c08')}

OK, now let's go a little bit crazeee:

# Python 2.7
from pymongo import *
connection = MongoClient("mongodb://USERNAME:PASSWORD@ds051067.mongolab.com:51067/mongolab-test", 51067)
db = connection["mongolab-test"]
c = db["collection1"]
posts = c.find({"x":{"$gte":5,"$lte":10}}).sort([("x",DESCENDING)])
print (c.count())
for post in posts:
print (post)
c.insert({"y":post["x"]})
print (c.count())

Output:
25
{u'x': 10.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf9')}
{u'x': 9.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf8')}
{u'x': 8.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf7')}
{u'x': 7.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf6')}
{u'x': 6.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf5')}
{u'x': 5.0, u'_id': ObjectId('51e3ce08915082db3df32bf4')}

See how easy this is (again)? The Python syntax is pretty much identical to the MongoDB syntax and their dictionaries are a perfect match. No conversion needed (DALs and ORMs, rot in Hell!).

Robert Burns, the famous 18th-century Scottish poet, once wrote: "Freedom an' whisky gang thegither!". With all due respect for such a wise man, please let me add: "So do MongoDB and Python, especially with a glass of 18-year old Glenlivet". Open Source (on the) rocks :D

That's it for today. Now write some code, will ya?

About the Author

Julien Simon is the Chief Evangelist at Arcee AI , specializing in Small Language Models and enterprise AI solutions. Recognized as the #1 AI Evangelist globally by AI Magazine in 2021, he brings over 30 years of technology leadership experience to his role.

With 650+ speaking engagements worldwide and 350+ technical blog posts, Julien is a leading voice in practical AI implementation, cost-effective AI solutions, and the democratization of artificial intelligence. His expertise spans open-source AI, Small Language Models, enterprise AI strategy, and edge computing optimization.

Previously serving as Principal Evangelist at Amazon Web Services and Chief Evangelist at Hugging Face, Julien has helped thousands of organizations implement AI solutions that deliver real business value. He is the author of "Learn Amazon SageMaker," the first book ever published on AWS's flagship machine learning service.

Julien's mission is to make AI accessible, understandable, and controllable for enterprises through transparent, open-weights models that organizations can deploy, customize, and trust.