Learning Neo4j
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Book preview
Learning Neo4j - Rik Van Bruggen
Table of Contents
Learning Neo4j
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
Why Subscribe?
Free Access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the color images of this book
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Graphs and Graph Theory – an Introduction
Introduction to and history of graphs
Definition and usage of graph theory
Social studies
Biological studies
Computer science
Flow problems
Route problems
Web search
Test questions
Summary
2. Graph Databases – Overview
Background
Navigational databases
Relational databases
NoSQL databases
Key-Value stores
Column-Family stores
Document stores
Graph databases
The Property Graph model of graph databases
Node labels
Relationship types
Why (or why not) graph databases
Why use a graph database?
Complex queries
In-the-clickstream queries on live data
Path finding queries
Why not use a graph database, and what to use instead
Large, set-oriented queries
Graph global operations
Simple, aggregate-oriented queries
Test questions
Summary
3. Getting Started with Neo4j
Neo4j – key concepts and characteristics
Built for graphs, from the ground up
Transactional, ACID-compliant database
Made for Online Transaction Processing
Designed for scalability
A declarative query language – Cypher
Sweet spot use cases of Neo4j
Complex, join-intensive queries
Path finding queries
Committed to open source
The features
The support
The license conditions
Installing Neo4j
Installing Neo4j on Windows
Installing Neo4j on Mac or Linux
Using Neo4j in a cloud environment
Test Questions
Summary
4. Modeling Data for Neo4j
The four fundamental data constructs
How to start modeling for graph databases
What we know – ER diagrams and relational schemas
Introducing complexity through join tables
A graph model – a simple, high-fidelity model of reality
Graph modeling – best practices and pitfalls
Graph modeling best practices
Design for query-ability
Align relationships with use cases
Look for n-ary relationships
Granulate nodes
Use in-graph indexes when appropriate
Graph database modeling pitfalls
Using rich
properties
Node representing multiple concepts
Unconnected graphs
The dense node pattern
Test questions
Summary
5. Importing Data into Neo4j
Alternative approaches to importing data into Neo4j
Know your import problem – choose your tooling
Importing small(ish) datasets
Importing data using spreadsheets
Importing using Neo4j-shell-tools
Importing using Load CSV
Scaling the import
Questions and answers
Summary
6. Use Case Example – Recommendations
Recommender systems dissected
Using a graph model for recommendations
Specific query examples for recommendations
Recommendations based on product purchases
Recommendations based on brand loyalty
Recommendations based on social ties
Bringing it all together – compound recommendations
Business variations on recommendations
Fraud detection systems
Access control systems
Social networking systems
Questions and answers
Summary
7. Use Case Example – Impact Analysis and Simulation
Impact analysis systems dissected
Impact analysis in Business Process Management
Modeling your business as a graph
Which applications are used in which buildings
What buildings are affected if something happens to Appl_9?
What BusinessProcesses with an RTO of 0-2 hours would be affected by a fire at location Loc_100
Impact simulation in a Cost Calculation environment
Modeling your product hierarchy as a graph
Working with a product hierarchy graph
Calculating the price based on a full sweep of the tree
Calculating the price based on intermediate pricing
Impact simulation on product hierarchy
Questions and Answers
Summary
8. Visualizations for Neo4j
The power of graph visualizations
Why graph visualizations matter!
Interacting with data visually
Looking for patterns
Spot what's important
The basic principles of graph visualization
Open source visualization libraries
D3.js
Graphviz
Sigma.js
Vivagraph.js
Integrating visualization libraries in your application
Visualization solutions
Gephi
Keylines
Linkurio.us
Neo4j Browser
Tom Sawyer
Closing remarks on visualizations
The fireworks
effect
The loading
effect
Questions and answers
Summary
9. Other Tools Related to Neo4j
Data integration tools
Talend
MuleSoft
Business Intelligence tools
Modeling tools
Arrows
OmniGraffle
Questions and answers
Summary
A. Where to Find More Information Related to Neo4j
Online tools
Google group
Stack Overflow
The Neo4j community website
The new Neo4j website
The Neo4j Blog
GraphGists collection
The Cypher reference card
Other books
Events
Meetup
GraphConnect
Conferences
Training
Neo Technology
B. Getting Started with Cypher
The key attributes of Cypher
Key operative words in Cypher
The Cypher refcard
Syntax
Index
Learning Neo4j
Learning Neo4j
Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: August 2014
Production reference: 1190814
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-84951-716-4
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Cover image by Pratyush Mohanta (<tysoncinematics@gmail.com>)
Credits
Author
Rik Van Bruggen
Reviewers
Jussi Heinonen
Michael Hunger
Andreas Kolleger
Max De Marzi
Mark Needham
Yavor Stoychev
Ron Van Weverwijk
Acquisition Editor
Nikhil Karkal
Content Development Editor
Poonam Jain
Technical Editors
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Aman Preet Singh
Copy Editors
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Project Coordinator
Mary Alex
Proofreaders
Simran Bhogal
Maria Gould
Ameesha Green
Paul Hindle
Indexers
Hemangini Bari
Tejal Soni
Priya Subramani
Graphics
Sheetal Aute
Ronak Dhruv
Valentina D'silva
Disha Haria
Abhinash Sahu
Production Coordinator
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Cover Work
Komal Ramchandani
About the Author
Rik Van Bruggen is the regional territory manager for Neo Technology for Benelux, UK, and the Nordic region. He has been working for startup companies for most of his career, including eCom Interactive Expertise, SilverStream Software, Imprivata, and Courion. While he has an interest in technology, his real passion is business and how to make technology work for a business. He lives in Antwerp, Belgium, with his wife and three lovely kids, and enjoys technology, orienteering, jogging, and Belgian beer.
This book and all of the work that went on around it would not have been possible without the unconditional support of my wife, Katleen, and our three lovely kids, Mit, Toon, and Cas. Thank you!
About the Reviewers
Michael Hunger has been passionate about software development for a long time. He is particularly interested in the people who develop software, software craftsmanship, programming languages, and improving code.
For the past few years, he has been working with Neo Technology on the Neo4j graph database. As the project lead of Spring Data Neo4j, he helped develop the idea to make it a convenient and complete solution for object graph mapping. He now takes care of all the aspects of the Neo4j developer community.
Good relationships are everywhere in Michael's life. His life revolves around his family and children, running his coffee shop and co-working space, having fun in the depths of a text-based, multiuser dungeon, tinkering with and without Lego, and much more.
As a developer, he loves to work with many aspects of programming languages—learning new things every day, participating in exciting and ambitious open source projects, and contributing and writing software-related books and articles. He is also an active speaker at conferences and events, and a longtime editor at InfoQ.
He is one of the important contributors to the expert book, 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know by Kevin Henney, O'Reilly.
He has co-authored Spring Data, by Mark Pollack, Oliver Gierke, Thomas Risberg, and Jon Brisbin, O'Reilly and has also reviewed the following books:
NoSQL Distilled, Pramod J. Sadalage and Martin Fowler, Pearson
Domain-Specific Languages Patterns, Martin Fowler and Rebecca Parsons, Pearson
Pragmatic Guide to Git, Travis Swicegood, The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Art of Readable Code, Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher, O'Reilly
Apprenticeship Patterns, David H. Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, O'Reilly
I want to thank the four wonderful women in my life who make me happy every day and let me achieve many things.
Ron Van Weverwijk is an experienced software developer at GoDataDriven in Netherlands. He has years of experience developing both backend and frontend applications.
For the last few years, he has been building applications to explore and visualize complex network data using Neo4j. He is an expert Neo4j developer and community member. He has given several Neo4j trainings, and has spoken about Neo4j at a number of recent conferences.
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Preface
The title of this book, Learning Neo4j, is a really good title in many ways. On one hand, it reflects my own personal experience with Neo4j over the past couple of years and more. As I fell deeply in love with graph technology, Neo4j kept on providing me with new fascinating things to learn about and explore. This book, in more than one way, is a summary of that learning experience—it's the tale of my learning of Neo4j.
But the book is also supposed to provide you with lots of good starting points to get going with this technology more quickly. I know for a fact that finding learning resources on these types of technologies is not always easy, and that's really what drove me personally to spend many late nights, weekends, and holidays to put together this book to accelerate your learning of Neo4j.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Graphs and Graph Theory – an Introduction, provides you with some background information on graphs to help you understand where the technology behind Neo4j came from.
Chapter 2, Graph Databases – Overview, will try to explain how the theory of the previous chapter is used to create a new, different kind of database that is standing on the shoulders of giants
. We are going to be basing ourselves on several decades of database technologies, of course.
Chapter 3, Getting Started with Neo4j, gives you an overview of several of Neo4j's key characteristics, and then helps you get going with the tool on different on-premise and cloud-based platforms.
Chapter 4, Modeling Data for Neo4j, will provide you with an introduction to data modeling for graph databases. Before you take your newly acquired tool (discussed in the previous chapter) for a spin, you need to think about the data model, just as you would with any other database.
Chapter 5, Importing Data into Neo4j, will give you a good look at the different options and considerations to import data into your newly created model (discussed in Chapter 4, Modeling Data for Neo4j). It will show you some of the different import techniques in detail as well.
Chapters 6, Use Case Example – Recommendations, will provide detailed examples of use cases for Neo4j that seem to have become quite commonplace in many different industries. This chapter focuses on recommendations.
Chapter 7, Use Case Example – Impact Analysis and Simulation, will take a deep look into the impact analysis use cases of Neo4j.
Chapter 8, Visualizations for Neo4j, will give you an overview of how to integrate the Neo4j graph database with the powerful domain of graph visualizations. We will discuss different alternatives, and point you to different resources to get started with.
Chapter 9, Other Tools Related to Neo4j, will provide you with some pointers to interesting complementary tools that relate to Neo4j, such as data integration tools, business intelligence tools, and modeling tools.
Appendix A, Where to Find More Information Related to Neo4j, gives a basic introduction to Cypher.
Appendix B, Getting Started with Cypher, discusses the Neo4j query language that we are using throughout the book.
What you need for this book
This book can be read without any additional resources; however, we recommend access to some physical lab resources to install Neo4j Community Edition