Previously I showed you how to get Neo4j up and running with Ruby and how to find recommended friends on a social network. What about finding out how you are connected to someone outside of your friends of friends network? Do you remember the concept of six degrees of separation? No, how aboutsix degrees of Kevin Bacon?
A credit card commercial explains how this works:
The actor, Kevin Bacon wants to write a check to buy a book, but the clerk asks for his ID, which he does not have. He leaves and returns with a group of people, then says to the clerk, “Okay, I was in a movie with an extra, Eunice, whose hairdresser, Wayne, attended Sunday school with Father O’Neill, who plays racquetball with Dr. Sanjay, who recently removed the appendix of Kim, who dumped you sophomore year. So you see, we’re practically brothers.”
You may not be a Hollywood actor, but if you’ve used the social network site Linked In, you’ve seen this feature in their “How you’re connected to” window. So how can we do this with Ruby and Neo4j?
Keywords: DZone • Kevin Bacon • Neography • ruby