SQL Antipatterns

Antipattern: Leave Out the Constraints

Even though it seems at first that skipping foreign key constraints makes your database design simpler, more flexible, or speedier, you pay for this in other ways. It becomes your responsibility to write code to ensure referential integrity manually.

Assuming Flawless Code

Many people’s solution for referential integrity is to write application code so that data relationships are always satisfied. Every time you insert a row, make sure that values in foreign key columns reference existing values in the referenced table. Every time you delete a row, make sure that any child tables are also updated appropriately. In other words, the popular answer is simply to make no mistakes.

To avoid making referential ...