Apache TinkerPop graph computing framework
Describe the Apache TinkerPop framework.
Apache TinkerPop™ is a graph abstraction layer that works with numerous different graph databases and graph processors. TinkerPop is composed of two elements: a structure API and a process API.
The primary components of the TinkerPop structure API are:
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Graph
Maintains a set of vertices and edges.
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Vertex
Extends a general class Element and maintains a set of incoming and outgoing edges as well as a collection of properties and a vertex type. DSE Graph schema stores VertexLabel - ID, name, Time-To-Live (TTL).
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Edge
Extends Element and maintains an incoming and outgoing vertex as well as a collection of properties and an edge type. DSE Graph schema stores EdgeLabel - ID, name, TTL, multiplicity (multi, simple), unidirected, visible, sort-key.
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Property
A string key associated with a value. DSE Graph schema stores PropertyKey - ID, name, TTL, datatype, cardinality (single, list).
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VertexProperty
A string key associated with a value as well as a collection of metadata properties (vertices only).
The primary components of the TinkerPop process API are:
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TraversalSource
A generator of traversals for a particular graph, domain specific language (DSL), and execution engine.
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Traversal<S,E>
A functional data flow process transforming objects of type
Sinto object of typeE. -
GraphTraversal
A traversal domain-specific language (DSL) that is oriented towards the semantics of the raw graph (i.e. vertices, edges, etc.).
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GraphComputer
A system that processes the graph in parallel and potentially, distributed over a multi-machine cluster.
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VertexProgram
Code executed at all vertices in a logically parallel manner with intercommunication via message passing.
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MapReduce
Computations that analyzes all vertices in the graph in parallel and yields a single reduced result.
A key feature of TinkerPop is Gremlin, a graph traversal language and virtual machine. TinkerPop and Gremlin are to graph databases what JDBC and SQL are to relational databases. Gremlin variants are available for many languages: Java, Groovy, Python, and others.
