1. Innovate. Share. Connect.
Boston June 10-11
What's new in Neo4j 2.0What's new in Neo4j 2.0
Andreas Kollegger, Neo TechnologyAndreas Kollegger, Neo Technology
@akollegger@akollegger

2. Neo4j 2.0
★ 3 questions: Why? What?
How?
★ with just One answer

3. Why 2.0?

4. Why 2.0?
• Neo4j 1.10 could be an AM radio station
• Wanted to seem web-savvy before it goes to 3.0
• We were in the mood to break some things
• Really, it's because of a shift in focus

5. (0.x) --> (1.x) --> (2.x)
• 0.x was about embedded java
• 1.x introduced the server and REST
• 2.x ease of use, big data, cloud
which means a focus on...

6. This guy

7. Focus on Cypher
• Cypher, a carefully crafted language for working with
graphs
• Declarative, friendly, easy to read and write
• One language, used everywhere
• REST for management, Java for plugins,

8. What is new in 2.0?

9. There will be
some sad Danes
some sad Danes
"Once you label me,
you negate me.”
- Søren Kierkegaard

10. • Simply: a label identifies a set of nodes
• Nodes can have multiple labels
• Find nodes by label
• Constrain properties and values
• (lightweight schema)
• A simple idea, with powerful applications
Introducing Node Labels

11. Find friends who like cheese
MATCH (max:People)-[:FRIENDS]->(cheesy: People),
(cheesy)-[:LIKE]->(cheese:Things)
WHERE max.name = "Max De Marzi"
AND cheese.name = "Cheese"
RETURN cheesy;

12. Schema Indexing
• Indexes for labels, based on a property
• Simple lookups for now
• Unique indexing coming soon
• Full-text, other special indexes in planning
CREATE INDEX ON :People(name)

13. MERGE operation
• a combination of MATCH + CREATE
• replaces CREATE UNIQUE
• attempts to MATCH, with specified properties and labels
• if match fails, new graph data is created
• optional sub-clauses for handling ON CREATE, and ON
MATCH
MERGE (charlie { name:'Charlie Sheen', age:10 })
RETURN charlie

14. • begin, commit, or rollback a transaction
• transaction as RESTful resource
• issue multiple statements per request
• multiple requests per transaction
• compact response format
Transactional Cypher

15. Anything else?
• Performance improvements
• Breaking changes to some APIs (read CHANGES.txt)
• Migration of "legacy" indexes (stop STARTing)
• Mandatory transactions for all DB interactions
• Improving installers (in progress)
• Changing everything to be "all Cypher, all the time"

16. How to use labels?

17. Label - to identify
name: Ford Prefect
NINO: 122-762-9255
HIKE: 415-484-6364
UKUK
H2G2H2G2

18. Label - to identify
UKUK
H2G2H2G2
MATCH (ford:H2G2) WHERE ford.HIKE = '415-484-6364' RETURN ford

19. Label - to avoid confusion
name: Ford Prefect name: Ford Prefect
AlienAlien CarCar
MATCH (ford:Alien) WHERE ford.name = 'Ford Prefect' RETURN ford

20. Label - special nodes
• replace built-in reference node,
with domain specific reference nodes
4242
AnswerAnswer

21. Labels - rules of thumb
• Use a label to make queries easier to read & write
• And to improve performance through indexing
• Start with anything you might've put in a legacy index
• Use lightly, as few labels as needed

22. Is that it for 2.0?

23. Well, there is this...

27. What is new in 2.0?
• It's all about Cypher, starting with
• Labels, the first significant change in over 12 years
• Mix in schema indexing
• Then transactional REST, new clauses, functions
• A fresh Web UI that is Cypher-focused

28. Thanks :)
Any questions?
Any questions?
Any questions?
@akollegger to keep in touch