Abstract
The two dominant paradigms for graph databases, edge-labelled graphs and property graphs, may appear quite different. Yet, to the user, they have strong similarities. A usability study, comparing RDF-star/SPARQL-star and Cypher, found evidence for only limited differences in preferences between the modelling paradigms. This suggests the possibility of a convergence of the two paradigms; indeed in one case (Stardog) this is already happening. We also found little difference between the paradigms in users’ ability to detect valid and non-valid queries. In one specific case, the use of a reverse arrow in Cypher was interpreted significantly more accurately than the ^ symbol in the SPARQL query language; this argues, where possible, for the more intuitive Cypher notation.
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Notes
- 1.
At the time of undertaking the study, we only had available to us the echelon (<< … >>) syntax for quoted triples. The assumption at the time was that embedded triples would be asserted and this was implicit in the study questions. The current assumption is that, when using the echelon syntax, embedded triples are not asserted. There is now an additional syntax, the annotation syntax, which permits embedded triples to be asserted concurrently with their being quoted.
References
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Warren, P., Mulholland, P. (2022). Edge-Labelled Graphs and Property Graphs - To the User, More Similar Than Different. In: VillazĂłn-Terrazas, B., Ortiz-Rodriguez, F., Tiwari, S., Sicilia, MA., MartĂn-Moncunill, D. (eds) Knowledge Graphs and Semantic Web . KGSWC 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1686. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21422-6_7
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