On the SitePoint PHP blog today they've posted a new tutorial by Mehul Jain about combining PHP and Neo4J, a popular graph database tool as an alternative to the typical table-driven database structure. This is the first part of a series and only explains some of the basics behind the technology. The actual PHP implementation comes next.

For a long time, data has been typically stored in tabular form so as to increase the indexing and readability. Nowadays, the trends are changing as Graph databases are quickly gaining popularity. In fact, it would not be wrong to call them "the future of DBMS". New to the world of graphs and databases? Don't worry, by the end of this introductory article you will have sound theoretical knowledge about the topic – just enough to easily glide through the rest of the series – actual implementation.

He starts with the basics - introducing the ideas behind graph databases and some of the most basic concepts behind them. He continues, looking at common uses for them including dealing with connected data and how it lets you "move through" the data rather than jumping from record to record. He includes some real world examples if this kind of data ranging from social networks to network management.