A graph is a structure composed of a set of vertices (i.e.nodes, dots)
connected to one another by a set of edges (i.e.links, lines). The concept of a
graph has been around since the late 19$^\text{th}$ century, however, only in
recent decades has there been a strong resurgence in both theoretical and
applied graph research in mathematics, physics, and computer science. In
applied computing, since the late 1960s, the interlinked table structure of the
relational database has been the predominant information storage and retrieval
model. With the growth of graph/network-based data and the need to efficiently
process such data, new data management systems have been developed. In contrast
to the index-intensive, set-theoretic operations of relational databases, graph
databases make use of index-free, local traversals. This article discusses the
graph traversal pattern and its use in computing.