GraphQL vs Vulcain: What are the differences?

Introduction

GraphQL and Vulcain are both query languages that allow clients to request specific data from a server. However, there are key differences between the two that set them apart and make them suitable for different use cases.

1. Declarative vs. Imperative: GraphQL is a declarative query language, meaning that clients can specify exactly what data they need and how it should be structured. On the other hand, Vulcain is an imperative approach that focuses on requesting specific resources and their properties with high efficiency.

2. Efficient Protocol: Vulcain optimizes network communication by allowing multiple resources to be fetched in a single response. This reduces the amount of round trips between the client and server, resulting in faster data retrieval. GraphQL, on the other hand, requires multiple requests to fetch related data, which can introduce more latency in certain scenarios.

3. Server-driven vs. Client-driven: GraphQL follows a more client-driven approach, allowing clients to define their data requirements and structure. The server then determines how to fulfill those requests. Vulcan, on the other hand, is driven by the server, which exposes a set of endpoints representing different resources.

4. Typed Schema vs. Hypermedia: GraphQL relies on a strongly-typed schema, where the structure of the data and the available operations are defined upfront. This allows for better tooling and static type checking. In Vulcain, hypermedia-driven concepts like HATEOAS (Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State) are used to provide discoverability of available resources and actions.

5. Caching and Efficiency: Vulcain incorporates built-in caching mechanisms that can be leveraged by clients to improve performance by avoiding redundant requests. GraphQL, on the other hand, does not have built-in caching mechanisms, and it is up to the client and server implementation to handle caching.

6. Standards and Ecosystem: GraphQL has established itself as a standard in the industry and has a large and vibrant ecosystem with a wide range of tools, libraries, and support. Vulcain, being relatively newer, has a smaller ecosystem with fewer tools and community support.

In Summary, GraphQL and Vulcain differ in their approach (declarative vs. imperative), efficiency (multiple requests vs. single response), level of discoverability (client-driven vs. server-driven), schema definition (typed schema vs. hypermedia), caching mechanisms, and the size of their ecosystems.