[KLUG Members] Scripting language

[Adam Williams]

> > Adam mentioned three but MySQL already has two of them
> > (transactions and foreign-key constraints).
> Er, Adam just said "constraints"... MySQL has foreign keys, but
> there are other kinds of constraints, some of which MySQL does
> support and some of which it doesn't.  Most of what it doesn't
> can be worked around pretty cleanly on the application level,
> as far as I can tell (I'm just browsing C.J. Date's guide to the
> standard right now... so don't quote me :)

True, and that works so long as ONE application is using the database. 
If multiple applications use a database, certainly written by different
people, possibly in different programming languages, one simply can't
rely on application level enforcement of integrity.  

What database is adequate or correct depends on how to database will be
used.

My experience indicates that unless the application is extremely
vertical (a forum site like slashdot is a good example) it is always
best to assume the database will be used in ways beyond that originally
envisioned (anytime you start talking about customer management and
selling things).  The database often becomes not only a data-store but a
mechanism for application integration.