---
title: "SQL relations considered harmful?"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/2/17/sql-relations-considered-harmful.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/2/17/sql-relations-considered-harmful.html"
published: "2004-02-17T20:31:00"
updated: "2004-02-17T20:31:00"
tags: [".Net Original"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "OK. So I'm no SQL server guru but I do consider myself to know *something* about it. Which is why it was really weird to read this post and realize that I have no idea what that guy was talking about. Domains? Not using…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# SQL relations considered harmful?

By Roy Osherove February 17, 2004 In [.Net Original](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-original)

**Historical article** · Originally published February 17, 2004; technical details may be outdated.

OK. So I'm no SQL server guru but I do consider myself to know \*something\* about it. Which is why it was really weird to read [this post](http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/davidm/archive/2004/02/17/882.aspx) and realize that I have no idea what that guy was talking about. Domains? Not using a relation in favor of exporting domain views? using CHECK constraints instead of relations? I know CHECK constraints but funnily enough I was never in a position to actually use them for these kinds of things. Guess that comes with not knowing the territory..

How widespread are these methods? when should I use them? are there any specific guidelines that talk about this issue in particular somewhere where I can get more enlightenment?

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---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

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### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/