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Glossary

Graph Database

Term Definition See
Cypher Query language for property graph databases The Graph Space
Global Graph Algorithm An algorithm that operates on the entire graph (e.g. PageRank, community detection, connected components) Local vs Global
Aggregate NoSQL Store NoSQL database organizing data around self-contained chunks (key-value, document, or column-family) Modeling Connectivity
Graph A collection of nodes and relationships connecting them The Concept of Graph
Graph Compute Engine An engine for offline batch analytics over graph data (like OLAP) The Graph Space, Graph Compute Engine
Graph Database An online CRUD database exposing a graph data model, optimized for OLTP The Graph Space, Graph Database
Hypergraph A graph model where a single edge can connect more than two nodes The Graph Space
Index-free Adjacency Connected nodes physically point to each other, O(1) traversal per hop Graph Database
Local Graph Operation Starts at a specific node and traverses outward, touching a small portion of the graph Local vs Global
Native Graph Storage Storage engine purpose-built for graphs (vs serializing into relational/other backends) Graph Database
Node An entity in a graph, can hold properties (key-value pairs) The Concept of Graph, The Property Graph Model
Pregel Google's paper describing a distributed graph compute engine, basis for most distributed implementations Graph Compute Engine
Property A key-value pair attached to a node or relationship The Property Graph Model
Property Graph The most popular graph model variant, nodes and relationships with properties The Property Graph Model, The Graph Space
Relationship (Edge) A named, directed connection between two nodes, can hold properties The Concept of Graph, The Property Graph Model
Relationship Chain Doubly linked lists of relationships connecting a node to its neighbors on disk Native Graph Storage
Write-Ahead Log Durability mechanism: Changes are logged before being applied to store files Transactions, Availability, Scale

Semantic Web

Term Definition See
Digital Signature Encrypted data blocks proving information came from a trusted source The Semantic Web
Equivalence Statement Explicit links between different names for the same concept across databases (e.g. "zipcode" = "postal code") Semantic Web
Inference Rules Logical deductions encoded in ontologies (e.g. "if X is in city Y, and Y is in state Z, then X is in state Z") Semantic Web
Knowledge Representation Representing a knowledge base in a machine-readable fashion The Semantic Web
Ontology A document formally defining relations among terms: Taxonomies, inference rules, and equivalence relations Semantic Web, The Graph Space
Proof Verification Verifying that claims are logically inferred from trusted sources via exchangeable mathematical proofs The Semantic Web
RDF Resource Description Framework: Triple-based model (subject-predicate-object) encoding meaning via URIs Semantic Web, The Graph Space
Semantic Preservation Extracting universal logic from systems while discarding system-specific instructions, losing as little meaning as possible The Semantic Web
Semantic Web Extension of the WWW adding machine-readable meaning to data, enabling computer-human cooperation Semantic Web
Software Agent Software that harvests data from diverse sources, processes it, and exchanges results with other agents The Semantic Web
SPARQL Query language for RDF data The Graph Space
Taxonomy Class hierarchies (classes and subclasses) and their relations within an ontology Semantic Web
URI Uniform Resource Identifier: A compact character sequence identifying a resource. Strictly means the absolute form (with scheme) RFC 3986
URI-reference Either an absolute URI-reference (a full URI) or a relative URI-reference (no scheme, resolved against a base URI) RFC 3986
URL Uniform Resource Locator: A URI that also describes the access mechanism (e.g. network location) RFC 3986
URN Uniform Resource Name: A URI required to remain globally unique and persistent even when the resource ceases to exist RFC 3986
Percent-encoding Representing a data octet as % + two hex digits in a URI (e.g. %20 = space) RFC 3986
Base URI The absolute URI that relative URI-references are resolved against RFC 3986
XML Adds arbitrary structure to documents via custom tags, structure without meaning Semantic Web
XML Namespace URI-based prefix system to avoid tag name collisions when combining XML vocabularies XML Core
Well-formed XML An XML document that follows all syntax rules (proper nesting, quoted attributes, single root, etc.) XML Core
Valid XML A well-formed XML document that additionally conforms to a DTD or XML Schema XML Core
DTD Document Type Definition: Defines the legal structure, elements, and attributes of an XML document, uses its own non-XML syntax XML Core
XML Schema (XSD) XML-based alternative to DTD for defining document structure, supports data types, namespaces, and extensibility XML Core
XPath Expression language for navigating and selecting nodes in an XML document tree XPath
XSLT Template-driven language for transforming XML documents into other formats (HTML, XML, text) XSLT
XQuery Expression-driven query language for XML, built on XPath, similar to SQL for databases XQuery
FLWOR XQuery's for-let-where-order by-return expression, equivalent to SQL's SELECT-FROM-WHERE-ORDER BY XQuery
XLink W3C spec for creating hyperlinks in XML via namespace attributes on any element XLink
XPointer Fragment identifier scheme for XML, uses XPath expressions to point to specific parts of a document XPointer
XSL eXtensible Stylesheet Language: Family of specs for styling and transforming XML (XSLT, XPath, XSL-FO) XML Core
DOM Document Object Model: Tree-based API for reading and manipulating XML/HTML documents DOM
IRI Internationalized Resource Identifier: Generalization of URI that supports Unicode (RFC 3987) RDF Data Model
RDF Triple A subject-predicate-object statement expressing a directional relationship between two resources RDF Data Model
RDF Graph A collection of RDF triples, where subjects and objects are nodes and predicates are directed edges RDF Data Model
RDF Literal A data value (not an IRI) with a datatype, optional language tag, and optional base direction, can only appear in object position RDF Data Model
Blank Node An unnamed resource without a global IRI, functions like a variable standing for something unspecified RDF Data Model
Triple Term An RDF 1.2 feature: A triple used as a value (not asserted), enabling annotation of statements via reifiers RDF Data Model
Reifier A resource that concretizes a statement so properties (date, source, etc.) can be attached to it RDF Data Model
Named Graph A set of RDF triples associated with an IRI, used for provenance and grouping within an RDF dataset RDF Data Model
RDF Dataset A collection of named graphs plus at most one unnamed default graph RDF Data Model
RDF Vocabulary A set of IRIs with documented meanings that give interpretation to otherwise opaque triples RDF Vocabulary
RDFS RDF Schema: Semi-formal vocabulary level where meanings are defined as RDF triples and processed by RDFS-aware processors RDFS
rdfs:Class A class (metaclass) whose instances are themselves classes RDFS
rdf:Property A class whose instances are properties (relationships used as predicates) RDFS
Entailment Deriving new triples from existing ones through logical inference based on vocabulary definitions RDFS