Cassandra vs HBase: What are the differences?

### Introduction
This Markdown code provides a comparison between Cassandra and HBase, highlighting the key differences between the two popular NoSQL databases.

1. **Database Model**: Cassandra utilizes a wide-column store data model, where data is stored in rows and columns within column families, offering high availability and fault tolerance. On the other hand, HBase uses a column-oriented key-value data store model inspired by Google Bigtable, providing strong consistency and scalability.
  
2. **Consistency**: In terms of consistency, Cassandra follows the eventual consistency model, which allows for changes to be propagated across the system at different intervals. In contrast, HBase offers strong consistency, ensuring that all read and write operations are processed in a linearizable order.

3. **Partitioning**: Cassandra partitions data across multiple nodes using consistent hashing, enabling efficient distribution and scalability. On the contrary, HBase partitions data based on row keys and relies on region servers to manage data storage and retrieval within regions.

4. **Scalability**: Cassandra is designed for distributed scalability, allowing nodes to be added or removed easily to accommodate growing data needs. HBase also supports horizontal scalability by adding more region servers, but it may require manual configuration for optimal performance.

5. **Query Language**: Cassandra uses CQL (Cassandra Query Language), a SQL-like language for querying data, making it easier for developers familiar with SQL to work with the database. HBase, on the other hand, offers a Java API for data access and retrieval, requiring developers to write custom code for queries.

6. **Write Performance**: In terms of write performance, Cassandra excels in handling high write throughput by utilizing a log-structured storage engine for efficient write operations. HBase, although efficient for random read and write operations, may face performance degradation with high write workloads due to its design.

In Summary, the key differences between Cassandra and HBase lie in their database models, consistency models, partitioning strategies, scalability options, query languages, and write performance characteristics.