View source for TypeDB

{{Short description|Open-source, strongly-typed database}}
{{Infobox software
| name = TypeDB
| logo = File:TypeDB.png
| logo alt =
| logo caption =
| screenshot = <!--Image name is enough.-->
| screenshot alt =
| caption =
| collapsible = <!--Any text here will collapse the screenshot.-->
| author = Haikal Pribadi
| developer = TypeDB
| released = {{Start date and age|2016|09|09|df=yes/no}}
| discontinued = <!--Set to yes if software is discontinued, otherwise omit.-->
| ver layout = <!--simple (default) or stacked-->
| latest release version = 2.28.3
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2024|06|10|df=yes/no}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Releases · vaticle/typedb |url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| programming language = [[Java (programming language)|Java]]<ref name="dbengines">{{Cite web|url=https://db-engines.com/en/system/TypeDB|title=TypeDB System Properties|website=DB Engines|language=en}}</ref>
| operating system = [[Cross-platform]]
| license = [[GNU Affero General Public License#Version 3|AGPL 3.0]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.typedb.com}}
| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/vaticle/typedb}}
}}

TypeDB is an [[Open-source software|open-source]], [[distributed database|distributed]] [[database management system]] that relies on a user-defined [[type system]] to model, manage, and query [[data]].

==Overview==

The [[data model]] of TypeDB is based on primitives from [[conceptual data model|conceptual data modeling]], which are implemented in a [[type system]] (''see [[#Data and query model|§&nbsp;Data and query model]]''). The type system can be extended with user-defined [[Type system|types]], type [[dependent type|dependencies]], and [[subtyping]], which together act as a [[database schema]]. The model has been [[formal specification|mathematically defined]] under the name ''polymorphic entity-relation-attribute model''.<ref>Dorn & Pribadi 2024</ref>

To specify schemas and to [[CRUD|create, modify, and extract]] data from the TypeDB database, programmers use the query language ''TypeQL''. The language is noteworthy for its intended resemblance to natural language, following a [[subject-verb-object]] statement structure for a fixed set of “key verbs” (''see [[#Examples|§&nbsp;Examples]]'').

==History==

TypeDB has roots in the [[knowledge representation]] system Grakn (a [[portmanteau]] of the words "graph" and "knowledge"), which was initially developed at the [[Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge Computer Science Department]].<ref name="dbdb">{{Cite web|url=https://dbdb.io/db/typedb]|title=TypeDB|website=Database of Databases}}</ref> Grakn was commercialized in 2017, and development was taken over by Grakn Labs Ltd.<ref name="dbdb">{{Cite web|url=https://dbdb.io/db/typedb]|title=TypeDB|website=Database of Databases}}</ref> Later that year, Grakn was awarded the "Product of the Year" award by the University of Cambridge Computer Science Department.<ref name="hall_of_fame_CCL">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/ring/awards|title=Hall of Fame|website=Department of Computer Science and Technology|date=23 January 2018 }}</ref>

In 2021, the first version of TypeDB was built from Grakn with the intention of creating a general-purpose [[database]].<ref name="first_typedb">{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases/tag/2.1.0|title=TypeDB 2.1.0|website=Github}}</ref> The query language of Grakn, Graql, was incorporated into TypeDB's query language, TypeQL, at the same time.

TypeDB Cloud, the [[Data as a service|database-as-a-service]] edition of TypeDB, was first launched at the end of 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://typedb.com/blog/new-foundations-for-building-with-typedb|title=New Foundations for Building with TypeDB|website=TypeDB Blog|date=27 March 2024 }}</ref>

===Grakn version history===

The initial version of Grakn, version 0.1.1, was released on September 15, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases/tag/0.1.1|title=Grakn 0.1.1|website=Github}}</ref>

Grakn 1.0.0 was released on December 14, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases/tag/1.0.0|title=Grakn 1.0.0|website=Github}}</ref>

Grakn 2.0.0 was released on April 1, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases/tag/2.0.0|title=Grakn 2.0.0|website=Github}}</ref>

===TypeDB version history===

TypeDB 2.1.0, the first public version of TypeDB, was released on May 20, 2021.<ref name="first_typedb">{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb/releases/tag/2.1.0|title=TypeDB 2.1.0|website=Github}}</ref>

==Features==

TypeDB is offered in two editions: an [[Open source|open-source]] edition, called ''TypeDB Core'', and a [[Proprietary software|proprietary]] edition, called ''TypeDB Cloud'', which provides additional [[cloud-based]] management features.

TypeDB features a [[NoSQL]] data and querying model, which aims to introduce ideas from [[type systems]] and [[functional programming]] to database management.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://master.typedb.com/fundamentals#functional-database-programming|title=Functional Database Programming Paradigm|website=TypeDB}}</ref>

===Database architecture===

General database features include the following.

{{bulleted list 
| [[ACID]]-compliance<ref name="dbengines">{{Cite web|url=https://db-engines.com/en/system/TypeDB|title=TypeDB System Properties|website=DB Engines|language=en}}</ref>
| [[Static type-checking]] of queries<ref name="dbengines">{{Cite web|url=https://db-engines.com/en/system/TypeDB|title=TypeDB System Properties|website=DB Engines|language=en}}</ref>
| [[Graphical user interface]] (''TypeDB Studio'')<ref name="dbengines">{{Cite web|url=https://db-engines.com/en/system/TypeDB|title=TypeDB System Properties|website=DB Engines|language=en}}</ref>
| [[Storage engine]] based on [[RocksDB]]<ref name="github_repo">{{cite web |title=TypeDB Github|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb|date=June 2024|website=GitHub|language=en}}</ref>
| [[Synchronous replication]] through [[Raft (algorithm)|RAFT]] for scalability<ref name="dbengines">{{Cite web|url=https://db-engines.com/en/system/TypeDB|title=TypeDB System Properties|website=DB Engines|language=en}}</ref>
| [[Transport Layer Security|TLS]] support
| [[Unicode]] support
}}

===Data and query model===

TypeDB's data and query model differs from traditional [[relational database management systems]] in the following points.

{{bulleted list 
|Instead of tables and columns, TypeDB employs types, subtypings between types, and type dependencies to describe the database schema. It is argued that this may facilitate schema extensions and [[database normalization|normalization]], and may help clarify [[functional dependency|data  dependencies]].<ref>Dorn & Pribadi 2024, §1.7</ref>
|Instead of formulating queries with [[relational algebra|algebraic operators]] as in [[SQL]], TypeQL queries are sequences of statements that represent [[Algebraic data type|composite types]]. It is argued that this yields a “more [[declarative programming|declarative]]” querying style (''see [[#Examples|§&nbsp;Examples]]'').<ref>Dorn & Pribadi 2024, §1.5</ref>
|TypeDB provides support for [[Datalog]]-like functions (based on the [[Propositions as Types|correspondence]] of [[Material conditional|logical implication]] to [[function types]]), which can be defined recursively. This can have advantages for [[graph database|graph data]] workloads, as most [[graph algorithms]] are formulated recursively.<ref>Dorn & Pribadi 2024, §3.2</ref>
|TypeDB's data model, based on subtyping and type dependencies, is aimed at modeling a variety of data structures. This subsumes relational data, structured [[document database|tree-like]] data, structured [[graph database|graph-like]] data, data with [[inheritance]], and [[hypergraph]]-like data.<ref>Sijs & Fletcher, 2022</ref><ref>Dorn & Pribadi 2024, App. A</ref>}}

===Limitations===

By relying on a non-standard data and query model, TypeDB (at present) has no support for the integration of established [[relational model|relational]] or [[column-oriented database|column-oriented]] database standards, file formats (such as [[Comma-separated values|CSV]], [[Apache Parquet|Parquet]]), or the query language [[SQL]]. Moreover, TypeDB has no direct facility for working with [[unstructured data]] or [[vector database|vector data]].

==Query language==

TypeQL, the query language of TypeDB, acts both as [[Data definition language|data definition]] and [[Data manipulation language|data manipulation language]].

The query language builds on well-known ideas from [[conceptual data model|conceptual modeling]], referring to independent types holding objects as ''entity'' types, dependent types holding objects as ''relation'' types, and types holding values as ''attribute'' types.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://typedb.com/docs/learn/9-modeling-schemas/9.1-the-pera-model|title=TypeDB Lecture Course|date=June 2024|website=TypeDB|language=en}}</ref> The language is composed of ''query clauses'' comprising ''statements''. Statements, especially for data manipulation, usually follow a [[subject-verb-object]] structure.

The formal specification of the query language was presented at [[Symposium on Principles of Database Systems|ACM PODS 2024]], where it received the "Best Newcomer" Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2024.sigmod.org/pods_awards.shtml|title=PODS Awards|website=ACM SIGMOD/PODS|date=June 2024}}</ref>

===Examples===

The following (incomplete) query creates a type schema using a {{code|define}} query clause.
<syntaxhighlight lang="PHP">
define
  person sub entity, 
    owns name,
    plays booking:passenger;
  booking sub relation, 
    relates passenger,
    relates flight,
    owns booking_date;
  name sub attribute,
    value string;
  ...
</syntaxhighlight>

The following query retrieves objects and values from the database that match the pattern given in the {{code|match}} clause.<ref>{{cite journal |title=TypeQL PODS 2024 Talk|url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/suppl/10.1145/3651611/suppl_file/TypeQL_PODS_2024.mp4|date=June 2024|website=ACM Digital Library|doi=10.1145/3651611 |language=en}}</ref>
<syntaxhighlight lang="PHP">
match
  $j isa person, has name $n;
  $n contains "Jane";
  $b isa booking, 
    links (passenger: $j, flight: $f);
    has booking_date >= 2024-01-01;
  $f has flight_time < 120;
  $f links (destination: $c);
  $c has name "Santiago de Chile"; 
</syntaxhighlight>

==Licensing==

The open-source edition of TypeDB is published under the [[Mozilla Public License]].<ref name="github_repo">{{cite web |title=TypeDB Github|url=https://github.com/vaticle/typedb|date=June 2024|website=GitHub|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==

{{refbegin}}
*{{citation|last1=Dorn|first1=Christoph|last2=Pribadi|first2=Haikal|title=TypeQL: a Type-Theoretic and Polymorphic Query Language|date=2024|journal=Proc. ACM Manag. Data|volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=1–27 |location=New York, NY, USA|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|doi=10.1145/3651611}}
{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}
*{{citation|last1=Sijs|first1=Joris|last2=Fletcher|first2=James|chapter=On a hypergraph structuring semantic information for robots navigating and conducting their task in real-world, indoor environments |title=2022 26th International Conference on Methods and Models in Automation and Robotics (MMAR)|date=2022|pages=430–435 |publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/MMAR55195.2022.9874265|isbn=978-1-6654-6858-9 |url=http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:31edb3d1-f849-41d2-b1c3-a865434680e2 }}
{{refend}}

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