Phoenix.pm: "Why Not To Use Foreign Keys" ?

[eden li]

I'm surprised they still haven't implemented it.  Hell even Microsoft Access lets you do foreign keys.  The reasons they give for not implementing them are kind of bogus.  When you design a sufficiently complex schema, it's nice to be able to depend on the database to keep certain things about the schema correct.  All the problems they mention with foreign keys can be taken care of by good design.

It seems the MySQL developers don't trust us with being able to make the right decisions about using foreign keys in the right places.  Maybe that's the reason I haven't touched mysql in so long...


Bill Lindley wrote:
> ...linked from a Slashdot thread, it's the MySQL developers eating 
> humble pie... funny reading in a 'cvs commit' diff..
>
> much more at
> http://lists.mysql.com/internals/1771