Getting Started with Neo4j
These developer guides are written to help you through your initial learning path with Neo4j.
Developer Guide Overview
We cover a variety of topics - from understanding graph database concepts to building applications that interact with Neo4j to running Neo4j in production.
Videos, text, examples, and code are just some of the formats in which we deliver the information to encourage you and aid all learning styles.
What is a Graph Database?
Connected information is everywhere in the world around us. Neo4j was built to efficiently store, handle, and query highly-connected data in your data model. With a powerful and flexible data model, you can represent your real-world, variably-structured information without a loss of richness.
Neo4j Graph Platform
At Neo4j, we want to provide options to solve many different kinds of business and technical needs. Our goal is that our products are simple and fit your use case, whatever it may be. Whether you are relying upon graphs for transactions, market analysis, operations optimizations, or anything else, Neo4j strives to provide a seamless process for integrating our tools with the rest of your existing system.
Capabilities in the Neo4j graph platform include aiding developers to import data to the graph, business analysts to explore the data with ease, and data scientists to make decisions based on analysis results. No matter your role within your organization, we want to put the power of the graph and Neo4j within reach to help you maximize business value and achieve technical needs.
Graph Data Modeling
The richness of graph data and the performance of your queries depends closely on how the data is modeled. Data in Neo4j should resemble the real-world information and relationships, but data modeling focuses on understanding what questions the data will answer and what types of information you need from it.
Your data model may also impact the queries you write and the performance of the results returned. Choosing to store certain pieces of data as properties versus separate nodes and determining how to structure your relationships is part of the process to maintain good data and maximize query performance.
Cypher - A Next-Generation Query Language
We wanted to make querying graph data not only fun, but easy to learn, understand, and use for everyone. That’s why we created a human-friendly, declarative query language which uses ASCII-Art to represent visual graph patterns for finding or updating data in Neo4j.
Cypher was based on the power of SQL, but optimized specifically for graphs. The syntax is concise and straightforward, allowing users to easily write all the normal CRUD operations in a simple and maintainable way.
Graph Visualization
Visualizations often provide a better understanding of your data than textual formats can support. As one of our customers said of graph visualization, "I can look at a graph of transactions and fraudulent activity pops out for me."
Neo4j offers methods for visualizing data, such as Neo4j Browser for developers, Neo4j Bloom for analysts and others looking for natural language search, and libraries for developers to embed graphs directly into their applications. We also have several partners providing additional options in this space to fit a variety of visualization needs.
Data Import
If you are looking to bring data into Neo4j from another source, Neo4j has a variety of tools and partner applications for different approaches to the data import problem. We want to maximize value by simplifying the import process and allow you to start analyzing your graph data sooner.
Our goal in this area to help developers transfer some of their own relevant data into Neo4j to see how it would look and what a graph database can help them do with it. We also have options for other types of data import, including integrations with other vendor products and tools. This area aids businesses to transport data from technology to technology as easily and smoothly as possible.
Drivers for Popular Programming Languages
Developing applications using Neo4j is straightforward. Using the binary "Bolt" protocol, we provide officially-supported drivers for languages such as .Net, Java (also Spring), JavaScript, and Python. Other drivers for the binary and the http protocol are developed by our active contributor community.
These drivers allow developers to build applications and integrations using the programming language(s) of their choice and easily interact with data in the Neo4j database.
Extensions and Integrations
Neo4j is supported by a rich ecosystem of libraries, tools, drivers, and guides provided by Neo4j, partners, users, and community contributors. We want to allow users the ability to integrate with familiar technologies and minimize pain associated with a rip-and-replace approach to solutions.
This area continues to expand as the technology ecosystem and developer needs consistently grow. Before writing any new code, we recommend checking out GitHub and other resources to see if something has already been developed to solve your need.
Deploying Neo4j
If you are looking to run Neo4j in production environments, we provide various options for types of deployments and configurations. Neo4j provides options for causal clustering, performance tuning, cloud deployment, backups and failovers, and more. We also have tools to plan and manage your deployments and preferences, including a calculator to help you know how much hardware you will need to run your data in Neo4j.
From local to cloud deployments and anything in between, we can help satisfy your preferences and requirements. While each implementation will have its own advantages and difficulties, the power to choose resides in the business and technical needs of your company.
Reference Documentation
The tutorials and guides in this site are meant to help you get up and running quickly while showing you how Neo4j integrates with a variety of programming languages and technologies. Our core reference documentation will help you as you write your queries and code.
Training and Certification: Neo4j GraphAcademy
Neo4j GraphAcademy offers training classes online and in classrooms around the world. From the fundamentals to advanced Cypher, these classes target audiences at any skill level.
For those interested in adding Neo4j qualifications to their resume or demonstrating knowledge in Neo4j, we also offer a developer certification exam. All of the study materials and resources are accessible from our website, but external resources can help you study, too. The test is free, and you will receive a certificate and t-shirt after passing the test to become a Neo4j Certified Professional! Visit our GraphAcademy pages to learn more and to take the exam.
Contributing in Neo4j
No matter your experience level, we would love to have your feedback and input on all things Neo4j! If you are looking to get involved, check out the different ways you can join our community and help improve our ecosystem and the open source community.
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