Graph databases work on relational graphs and use nodes, properties, and edges. They are best for users who understand graphical information. Relational databases use tables, while object databases use object-oriented programming.
A graph database is one of the three main types of databases, along with relational databases and object databases. The main difference between a graph database and the other two is that graph databases work on relational graphs rather than using tables or mapping objects. There are three objects used in these databases: nodes, properties and edges. These databases are best for users who understand graphical information and move faster in calculating associated datasets.
Graphical databases are just that: databases that store information in a graphical format. Information is grouped based on whether it can be graphed or not, and these databases are better for programmers who want to use graphing features. When linked to websites, these databases are either expensive or use large amounts of code to build the complicated database structure that most websites need.
With a graph database, there are three parts, known as nodes, properties and edges. Nodes represent entities. In a database displaying information about companies and their relationship, the nodes would be the companies. Each node is given a title and the title is mainly so that users and programmers can distinguish one node from other nodes. The node title is rarely used in relationship lookup, but can be used if the user needs it.
The next part of the graph database is the properties section. This goes hand in hand with nodes and explains what node is. Depending on what the database is graphing, the programmer will enter the relevant information. For business database, if the programmer is trying to find similar business, the programmer will enter the business niche in the property section; if the programmer is looking for similar sales data, the sales data would be the properties.
Edges, the last section of the graph database, are lines that branch between nodes and find relationships between sections. For example, if the programmer wants to find similar businesses, edges graph between nodes and find businesses with matching properties. This gives users a visual graph on which they can see the relationship between nodes.
The other two types of databases work similarly but have different ways of viewing or programming databases. A relational database is nearly identical to a graphical database, but uses tables rather than graphs to show similarities between database entries. Object databases use object oriented programming (OOP) where objects work similar to nodes.
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