--- Jim Starkey <jas@...> wrote:

> a professionally written web application
> that only presents users only valid choices, just
> doesn't lead to referential integrity problems.

But where is this 'professionally written' app going
to get the pick list? Well, from the database, where
else?! And if the DB doesn't have ref. integrity (aka
RI, FK's) then it is prone to administrative error
(bad data, data integrity problems): GIGO.

OK, then there are the poor developers who have poor
data specs, don't know the logical model/schema well,
deadlines, blah blah blah. They'd go & inadvertantly
violate RI right & left & never know it... ferreting
out data corruption is a REAL chore & takes
understanding the data, the logical model & a talent
for finding problems.

> Paying a major runtime cost
> for problems easily detected during debugging
> doesn't strike me as a good use of resources.

I've seen good models on large systems that use FK's
efficiently w/out negative impact, w/ a mix of OLTP &
OLAP.

OTOH, I've seen 'professionally written' apps with
major (ab)use of cursors, temp tables, logical models
w/ circular FK chains, etc. Production DBA rule of
thumb: Fix it with hardware.

/lee

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/