Introduction
Gram is a textual format for data graphs. Named values are packed into records, qualified with labels, given identity, and organized into expressive patterns. It’s JSON
for data graphs!
Invaluable values
Gram offers a rich set of value types. Foundational values like string
can be prepended with a tag to
specialize the string format. Similarly, integers
or decimals
can have a unit appended – no more
guessing whether a weight is metrics or imperial.
({
name: "Gram",
stars: 42,
since: date`2020-06-06`,
homepage: url`https://github.com/`,
weight: 22kg
})
Highly qualified records
Gram’s semi-structured data records have an extra layer of information. The record can be given an explicit identity and qualified with labels.
(g:Text:Data { name: "Gram", stars: 42, since: date`2020-06-06`, weight: 22kg })
Multiple records can be listed together, forming a sequence of records.
(g:Text:Data { name: "Gram", stars: 42, since: date`2020-06-06`, weight: 22kg })
(a:Ast:Data { specification: "@gram-data/gram-ast", extends:"unist" })
(j:Object:Data { language: "javascript" })
Well composed data
Individual records can be composed into data patterns called paths, inspired by Neo4j’s Cypher language. Path members can reference previously defined records.
Here we arrange g
,a
, and j
into a path:
(g)-->(a)-->(j)
Footnotes
- Cypher data patterns
innovated the ascii-art representation of round graph nodes
(a)
and interrupted arrows-[e]->
for graph relationships.