[thelist] MySQL Storage Engine Choices or Are Foreign Key Constraints Enforced by the DB Necessary?

[Jay Turley]

Hi all-

As a long-time user of MS SQL Server, I am making my first foray into
using MySQL.

After researching the matter a bit, itt seems clear to me that if I
need ACIDity and transaction support, I should use the InnoDB engine
instead of the MyISAM engine.

By the same token, if I will be making frequent UPDATEs and DELETEs,
then - again - the InnoDB engine is recommended.

Well, lets suppose that I don't have a requirement for either of
those. But that I do have a database design normalized down to the
point where I have a bunch of foreign keys.

What kinds of bugaboos will I be letting myself in for if I choose to
use the MyISAM engine, and thus to enforce the foreign key constraints
in the business logic, since the MyISAM engine doesn't support them?
Is this standard practice for MySQL developers?

Also, if anyone has any advice or recommendations as to the choice of
engine, I'd love to hear them.

Thank you very much in advance.

-Jay