What is the purpose of schema validation in MongoDB?

The purpose of schema validation in MongoDB is primarily to enforce rules on documents for data quality and integrity. Schema validation allows developers to define a set of rules that documents must adhere to when they're inserted or updated within a collection. This is crucial in ensuring that the data maintains a certain standard and consistency across the database.

By implementing schema validation, you can specify conditions such as the types of fields, whether a field is required, and any other constraints that can help maintain the quality of the data you are working with. This ensures that the data stored is valid, reducing the likelihood of errors during data processing and analysis.

While some might think schema validation creates a fixed structure for all documents, in MongoDB, it is designed to be flexible. You can have different documents within the same collection that follow distinct structures, as long as they adhere to the defined validation rules.

Allowing any form of data to be stored does not align with the purpose of schema validation, as this would undermine the very reason for implementing such checks. Additionally, schema validation does not compress data – that is a separate aspect of database performance and optimization. Therefore, the focus on enforcing rules for data quality and integrity highlights the essential role schema validation plays in maintaining a clean and reliable dataset