Properties vs Labels ... (Newbie question)

[David Rader]

What are the advantages/disadvantages of using properties vs labels as classifiers?  

I currently have a "type" property in some nodes. Wondering if the general rule should be using labels instead.

An example:

Have nodes labeled CONTACT for holding email, phones, IM, etc. One node for each identity (number, address, etc).

Could have a set of T/F roles for home, work, mobile, preferred, other since any contact could serve multiple roles.

Is it better to have a set of role properties or assign labels?  The property could later be expanded from T/F to days/hours of availability. The label couldn't be expanded.

thanks,

Dave

[Michael Hunger]

Hi Dave,

labels are stored and queried quite efficiently as they are part of the node-record.

Properties are stored separatedly in property-records via an indirection and are also compressed, so that that they have to be unserialized on access. 

So if you have a fact / class / tag / boolean value that makes sense to encode as label, then the label will be faster to query.

In your example I would add multiple labels, :Contact:Phone:Fax if you need that information upfront, if you don't need it upfront you can just access the appropriate property which would be null in that case.

Cheers, Michael

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[David Rader]

Excellent insight.  Very helpful.  Thanks

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