When we talk about databases today, we face a landscape of diversity. Gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all solution. We live in an era of polyglot persistence, where the guiding principle is to use the most appropriate data model for each use case. This article focuses on graph databases, their structure, practical applications, and how Java developers can leverage Eclipse JNoSQL and Jakarta Data to work seamlessly with them.

Graph databases enable richer and more natural modeling of connected data. Unlike traditional relational databases that require complex joins to represent relationships, graph databases make relationships first-class citizens. A graph model organizes data into vertices (nodes) and edges (relationships). Both vertices and edges can hold properties, and edges are directional, adding semantic meaning to how data points connect.