GraphQL is a technology that is being rapidly adopted across a variety of industries, so it’s understandable to wonder what the fuss is all about. So what is GraphQL and what are its use cases? In this blog, we’ll answer those questions.
What is GraphQL?
Simply put, GraphQL is a language used by APIs. It tells these APIs how to ask for the data they’re looking for. A unique aspect of GraphQL is that it utilizes already existing data from your existing code and data, instead of relying on a specific database.
With GraphQL, you only have to make one query for data, rather than multiple. This makes it extremely modern, fast, and convenient when compared to the older methods of fulfilling API data requests. Now that we know a little bit about GraphQL, we can talk about when to use a graph database and problems it can solve. If you have a question like “when to use a graph database”, Visit this website.
What Problems Does it Solve?
GraphQL has three defining characteristics:
- Clients can specify the exact data they need, rather than trying to find a workaround
- GraphQL allows you to aggregate data from a multitude of sources
- The way data is described is through a “type” system
But how does this help users? There are actually plenty of scenarios where GraphQL can make a big difference. Most commonly it has been used in apps. The capabilities of GraphQL make it much easier for apps to fetch data from where they need to while also reducing the required bandwidth. For instance, if you needed to fetch every aspect of a social media post including the post, likes, comments, and more, scalable GraphQL can fetch all of that in one request.
Scalable GraphQL’s ability to fetch from multiple APIs makes it extremely easy to composite data no matter where you need to draw that data from. One way to view it is as a department store. Imagine you have to get groceries, a new shirt, and a new TV. It would be inconvenient to go to three different stores, but a department store would source all of these items for you, meaning you can just shop in one place.
Scalable GraphQL gives this convenience and speed to apps. You make a query and it draws from every source it needs to, giving you exactly what you’re looking for.
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