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Preface

Objectives

The goal of this book is to introduce you to the concepts, techniques, and tools for
graph data structures, graph analytics, and graph machine learning. When you’ve
finished the book, we hope you’ll understand how graph analytics can be used to
address a range of real-world problems. We want you to be able to answer ques-
tions like the following: Is graph a good fit for this task? What tools and tech-
niques should I use? What are the meaningful relationships in my data, and how
do I formulate a task in terms of relationship analysis?

In our experience, we see that many people quickly grasp the general concept and
structure of graphs, but it takes more effort and experience to “think graph,” that
is, to develop the intuition for how best to model your data as a graph and then to
formulate an analytical task as a graph query. Each chapter begins with a list of
its objectives. The objectives fall into three general areas: learning concepts about
graph analytics and machine learning; solving particular problems with graph
analytics; and understanding how to use the GSQL query language and the Tiger-
Graph graph platform.

Audience and Prerequisites

We designed this book for anyone who has an interest in data analytics and wants
to learn about graph analytics. You don’t need to be a serious programmer or a
data scientist, but some exposure to databases and programming concepts will
definitely help you to follow the presentations. When we go into depth on a few
graph algorithms and machine learning techniques, we present some mathemati-
cal equations involving sets, summation, and limits. Those equations, however,
are a supplement to our explanations with words and figures.

In the use case chapters, we will be running prewritten GSQL code on the Tiger-
Graph Cloud platform. You’ll just need a computer and internet access. If you are
familiar with the SQL database query language and any mainstream program-
ming language, then you will be able to understand much of the GSQL code. If you
are not, you can simply follow the instructions and run the prewritten use case
examples while following along with the commentary in the book.

Approach and Roadmap

We aim to present the material as motivated by real-world data analytics needs,

as opposed to theoretical principles. We always try to explain things in the sim-
plest terms we can, using everyday concepts instead of technical jargon.

The GSQL language is introduced through complete examples. Early in the book,
we provide line-by-line descriptions of the purpose and function of each line. We
also highlight language structures, syntax, and semantics that are particularly im-
portant. For a comprehensive tutorial to GSQL, you can refer to additional re-
sources beyond this book.

This book is structured as three parts: Part I: Connect; Part II: Analyze; and Part
III: Learn. Each part has two types of chapters. The first is a concept chapter, fol-
lowed by two or three chapters of use cases on TigerGraph Cloud and GSQL.

Chapter Format Title


1 Introduction Connections Are Everything

Part I: Connect

2 Concept Connect and Explore Data

3 Use Case, Introduction to See Your Customers and Business


TigerGraph Better: 360 Graphs

4 Use Case Studying Startup Investments

5 Use Case Detecting Fraud and Money

Laundering Patterns

Part II: Analyze

6 Concept Analyzing Connections for

Deeper Insight

7 Use Case Better Referrals and

Recommendations

8 Use Case Strengthening Cybersecurity

9 Use Case Analyzing Airline Flight Routes

Part III: Learn

10 Concept Graph-Powered Machine

Learning Methods

11 Use Case Entity Resolution Revisited

12 Use Case, Introduction to Machine Improving Fraud Detection

Learning Workbench

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.

Constant width

Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program

elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, envi-
ronment variables, statements, and keywords.

Constant width bold

Indicates vertex or edge types.

TIP

This element signifies a tip or suggestion.

NOTE

This element signifies a general note.

WA R N I N G

This element indicates a warning or caution.

Using Code Examples

This book has its own GitHub repository at https://github.com/TigerGraph-Dev-

Labs/Book-graph-powered-analytics.

The initial content for this site will be copies of all the use case examples. We will
also gather the book’s GSQL tips into a single document as a primer. As we receive
feedback from readers (and we hope to hear from you!), we’ll post answers to fre-
quently asked questions. We’ll also add additional or modified GSQL examples or
point out how you can take advantage of new capabilities in the TigerGraph plat-
form.

For additional resources on TigerGraph and the GSQL language, the most compre-
hensive material will be found through TigerGraph’s main website
(https://www.tigergraph.com), its documentation site (https://docs.tigergraph.com),
or its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@TigerGraph).

You can contact the authors at [email protected].

O’Reilly Online Learning

NOTE

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edge, and insight to help companies succeed.

Our unique network of experts and innovators share their knowledge and exper-
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learning paths, interactive coding environments, and a vast collection of text and
video from O’Reilly and 200+ other publishers. For more information, visit
https://oreilly.com.

How to Contact Us

Please address comments and questions concerning this book to the publisher:

O’Reilly Media, Inc.

1005 Gravenstein Highway North

Sebastopol, CA 95472

800-889-8969 (in the United States or Canada)

707-829-7019 (international or local)

707-829-0104 (fax)

[email protected]

https://www.oreilly.com/about/contact.html

We have a web page for this book, where we list errata, examples, and any addi-
tional information. You can access this page at https://oreil.ly/gpaml.

For news and information about our books and courses, visit https://oreilly.com.

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Acknowledgments

This book would not exist without Gaurav Deshpande, TigerGraph’s VP of market-
ing, who proposed that we should and could write it. He wrote the original pro-
posal and chapter outline; the three-part structure is his idea. Thank you to Tiger-
Graph’s CEO and Founder Dr. Yu Xu, who supported our effort and who granted
us the flexibility to work on this project. Dr. Xu also envisioned GraphStudio and
its Starter Kits. Mingxi Wu and Alin Deutsch developed the GSQL language with
efficient graph analytics in mind.

Besides the official authors, several others contributed to the material in this
book. Tom Reeve applied his professional writing skills and knowledge of graph
concepts to help us write Chapter 2, when writer’s block and procrastination
seemed to be our biggest foe. Emily McAuliffe and Amanda Morris designed sev-
eral of the figures in the Early Release edition of the book. We needed some data
scientists to review our chapters on machine learning. We turned to Parker Erick-
son and Bill Shi, who not only are experts in graph machine learning but devel-
oped the TigerGraph ML Workbench.

We are indebted to Xinyu Chang, TigerGraph’s original GSQL query and solutions
expert, for developing or overseeing the development of many of the use case
starter kits and graph algorithm implementations in this book. Yiming Pan also
wrote or optimized several graph algorithms and queries. Many of the book’s ex-
amples are based on designs that they developed for TigerGraph’s customers. The
schemas, queries, and output displays in those starter kits are just as much a part
of the content of this book as are the English paragraphs. We made several im-
provements to the starter kits to adapt them for this book. A number of people
helped with reviewing and standardizing the starter kits: Jon Herke, head of de-
veloper relations; and several TigerGraph interns: Abudula Aisikaer, Shreya
Chaudhary, McKenzie Steenson, and Kristine Zheng. Renchu Song and Duc Le,
who lead the design and development of TigerGraph Cloud and GraphStudio,
made sure that our revised starter kits were released into the product.

A million thanks to our two development editors at O’Reilly. Nicole Taché showed
us the ropes and got us to our first early release of two chapters, with insightful
comments, advice, and encouragement for this project. Gary O’Brien steered us
from there to completion, through thick and thin. Both are wonderful editors,
who were a pleasure and an honor to work with. Thank you also to our produc-
tion editor Jonathon Owen and copyeditor Adam Lawrence.

Victor would like to thank his parents George and Sylvia Lee for their tireless sup-
port of his academic and nonacademic pursuits. He would like to thank his wife
Susan Haddox for always being there for him, for putting up with his writing late
into the night, for watching any and all Star Trek with him, and for being his mod-
el for how a person can be wicked smart and kind and funny.

Kien would like to thank his mother, My Linh Ly, for being a constant source of
inspiration and a driving force for his career. He is also thankful for his wife,
Sammy Wai-lok Lee, who has always been there with him, giving color to his life
and caring for him and their baby girl Liv Vy Ly Nguyen-Lee, who was born dur-
ing the writing of this book.

Alex would like to thank his parents, Chris and Becky Thomas, and his sister, Ari,
for their support and encouragement as discussion partners during the writing
process. Special thanks goes to his wife Gloria Zhang for her incredible strength,
her vast intelligence, and her limitless capability for inspiration.

Graph-Powered Analytics and Machine Learn… Preface 1. Connections Are Everything

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