pro- foreign key propaganda?

I had built the DB backend using postgresql. The guy we hired to take over the project from me---I have non-IT duties to attend to---for various reasons decided to switch to MySQL and created his own tables (as well as redoing the web interface).

After a conversation involving two tables which I thought ought to be connected by a foreign key relationship, I went and checked his DB; I was worried that he didn't fully understand the importance of using foreign keys. So I ran mysqldump and then did "grep -i foreign dump.sql" and "grep -i references dump.sql." Nothing!

So...sent him an email late in the day, stressing that it's important that foreign keys be used where possible, that as much of the model logic/business logic/whatever should be encoded in the database itself to ensure data integrity, and so on.

What do I do if he gets back to me and says---as I'm sure everyone in his position does---"oh, but my PHP code makes sure everything is done right"? Not that I don't know what to say, but it would be good to have a pointer to an essay or webpage that succinctly explains why you're asking for trouble if you don't encode such relationships in the DB itself.

Sure, I could say, "Your next assignment is to read a book on DB theory, and give me a 10 minute summary," but we don't have that much time...

:-( Received on Thu May 15 2008 - 12:27:56 CEST