Neo4j: The Definitive Guide

Chapter 3. Data Modeling

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Graph modelling is a natural and intuitive process that requires no special skills except a clear understanding of the use cases in your business. It’s different from traditional schema design, and the flexibility and lack of fixed rules can be mind-bending at first, but as you get used to the process, you’ll find that it is a rewarding exercise.

This chapter covers the principles of graph modelling, revisits two decisions taken in Chapter 1, and describes factors to consider when picking an optimal model.

It Depends

If you’ve found a dataset that contains tracks, albums, artists, and their genres, and design a schema for a relational database management system (RDBMS), you and almost everyone would apply the same set of normalisation rules¹ and end up with the same structural model– table and column names might vary– as in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1. Schema for an RDBMS.

How do you model this as a ...