In a recent post I ran a simplistic database performance test involving Neo4j (a graph or network database) and Apache Derby (a relational database). Both are Java-based. Relational databases are challenged by deep hierarchies, so the test was exactly that: Build a deep hierarchy and retrieve data from it.

The retrieval test was a surprise because relational Derby seemed to perform better than Neo4j.

Anders Nawroth, Neo Technology, correctly commented that the retrieval test case searches for any file in a hierarchy, i.e. the search is independent of the hierarchy. The relational test program took advantage of this fact while Neo4j traversed the the graph.

In the interest of fairness this post digs somewhat deeper into the retrieval test case. The results are intriguing.
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