Semantic Foundations of Seraph Continuous Graph Query Language

TL;DR

This paper introduces Seraph, an extension of the Cypher graph query language, to support continuous streaming queries on property graphs, addressing a gap in current graph data processing capabilities.

Contribution

Seraph is the first extension of Cypher to incorporate streaming features, including semantics, syntax, and user impact considerations.

Findings

Defined Seraph semantics for streaming graph queries

Proposed initial Seraph syntax for continuous querying

Discussed potential user impacts and applications

Abstract

The scientific community has been studying graph data models for decades. Their high expressiveness and elasticity led the scientific community to design a variety of graph data models and graph query languages, and the practitioners to use them to model real-world cases and extract useful information. Recently, property graphs and, in particular, Cypher 9 (the first open version of the well-known Neo4j Inc.'s language) are gaining popularity. Practitioners find Cypher useful and applicable in many scenarios. However, we are living in a streaming world where data continuously flows. A growing number of Cypher's users show interest in continuously querying graph data to act in a timely fashion. Indeed, Cypher lacks the features for dealing with streams of (graph) data and continuous query evaluation. In this work, we propose Seraph, an extension of Cypher, as a first attempt to introduce streaming features in the context of property graph query languages. Specifically, we define Seraph semantics, we propose a first version of Seraph syntax, and we discuss the potential impacts from a user perspective.