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Databases Intermediate

What is Graph Database?

A database that uses graph structures with nodes, edges, and properties to store and query highly connected data.

Graph databases excel at storing and traversing relationships between entities. Unlike relational databases where joins become expensive with depth, graph databases traverse connections in constant time per hop. Neo4j is the most popular graph database, using the Cypher query language. Use cases include social networks, recommendation engines, fraud detection, knowledge graphs, and network topology. PostgreSQL also supports graph-like queries through recursive CTEs and the Apache AGE extension. Graph databases shine when the relationships between data are as important as the data itself.

Related Terms

Query Optimization
The process of improving database query performance through indexing, query rewriting, and schema design techniques.
EXPLAIN Plan
A database command that shows how the query planner will execute a SQL query, revealing join methods, scan types, and estimated costs.
Redis
An open-source, in-memory data store used as a database, cache, message broker, and queue with sub-millisecond response times.
Trigger
A database object that automatically executes a specified function when certain events (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) occur on a table.
JSONB
PostgreSQL's binary JSON data type that stores JSON documents with indexing, querying, and manipulation capabilities.
Primary Key
A column or set of columns that uniquely identifies each row in a database table.
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