Cypher is Neo4j's declarative query language designed specifically for working with graph data. Key differences from SQL:
Cypher characteristics:

• Uses ASCII art to represent graph patterns: (a)-[:REL]->(b)
• Focuses on pattern matching rather than table joins
• More intuitive for expressing graph traversals
• Supports path expressions naturally
  Example comparison:

// Cypher: Find friends of friends
MATCH (me:Person {name: "Alice"})-[:FRIEND]-(friend)-[:FRIEND]-(fof)
RETURN fof.name
// SQL equivalent would require multiple JOINs and be more complex