The Zen of Cypher

zen_of_cypher.md

The Zen of Cypher

• Write functions() in lower case, KEYWORDS in upper.
• START each keyword clause
  ON a new line.
• Use either camelCase or snake_case for node identifiers but be consistent.
• Relationship type names should use UPPER_CASE_AND_UNDERSCORES.
• Label names should use CamelCaseWithInitialCaps.
• MATCH (clauses)-->(should)-->(always)-->(use)-->(parentheses)-->(around)-->(nodes)
• Backticks `cân éscape odd-ch@racter$ & keyw0rd$` but should be a code smell.
• Don't put (extra) --> (whitespace) - [:IN] -> (patterns)
• Except for (line)-->
(breaks)
• If you want to wrap patterns across multiple lines, break (after)-->
(arrows) but (not)
-->(before)
• Try to chain patterns together (instead)-[:OF]->(repeating),
(repeating)-->(nodes)
• (right)<-[:TO]-(left)<-[:FROM]-(patterns)<--(write)<-[:TO]-(try)

Neat :-)
I got one nitpick though: the always use parentheses around node identifiers should probably be extended with when matching. I fancied using parentheses on all node identifiers - for consistency mostly, but that doesn't work when SETing a label, e.g. MATCH (n:Labbel) SET (n:ProperLabel) will not work, the node identifier must not have parenthesis in that case. I'm wondering though whether it should be that way ...

Great point, I have updated to reflect that :-)