Graph Query Languages: What Should We Study?

For several decades the study of graph query languages has concentrated on RPQs (regular path queries) and many derivatives: CRPQ, 2RPQ, 2CRPQ, ECRPQ, RDPQ, to name a few. But do these really constitute the core of graph query languages? A quick look at Cypher and the emerging GQL and SQL/PGQ standards lead to the negative answer. But what shall we be studying then, how, and why? This talk briefly surveys the classics, outlines key features of graph languages, and suggests new formal models as well as ways to influence the new standards.

Leonid Libkin, PSL University (France) and University of Edinburgh (UK) https://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/libkin/