Should I use database foreign keys and indexes
From: Carl <carl.stottlemyer_at_lmco.com>
Date: 10 Jul 2002 14:13:46 -0700
Message-ID: <bc814416.0207101313.442eea0f_at_posting.google.com>
I recently had a discussion with several web application developers where I work about the use of foreign keys and table indexes.
Date: 10 Jul 2002 14:13:46 -0700
Message-ID: <bc814416.0207101313.442eea0f_at_posting.google.com>
I recently had a discussion with several web application developers where I work about the use of foreign keys and table indexes.
I always thought that they were both basic elements of relational database modeling and should be included in all of your database
designs. I was suprised that they felt that foreign keys and indexes add unnecessary complexity to a database and that they never use foreign key constraints and rarely use indexes as a primary key. I would like to know your thoughts on using foreign keys and indexes in a database. The pros and cons I have thought of thus far are:
Foreign Keys Constraints:
Pro:
Provide referential integrity
Con:
May have to disable when you are doing mass updates
Table Indexes as Primary Key:
Pro:
May have to do a table join to search on a particular table field
Please add any comments you have.
Thanks,
Carl Received on Wed Jul 10 2002 - 23:13:46 CEST