By the end of this blog post, you are going to experience two epiphanies about databases. However, you are going to have to do a little more work than just read. You are going to have to stop and actually think about what you’re reading. I promise it will be worth it. Let’s go!
A relational database has tables with columns of numbers we refer to as keys. User_ID 1, 2, 3, Place_ID 1, 2, 3, Book_ID 1, 2, 3… and so on. These are numbers that are hopefully the same on some other column on some other table. The database itself has absolutely no idea how things are connected until you query it and you tell it exactly how to use these columns to join the tables together. Think about that.
Now, a graph database has explicit relationships. You never have to ask it to search for some id in some column. It knows how things are connected. Tell me about yourself Node A. I am 5’11” and 200 lbs, I have brown eyes… Now tell me how you are related to the world. These are my Friends, these are the Companies I have worked at, these are the Skills I have learned, these are the Things I like. How are you and this other noted related? We are 4 hops away through x, y an z nodes.
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Max De Marzi 