title: what are the advantages of defining a foreign key
body: <p>What is the advantage of defining a foreign key when working with an MVC framework that handles the relation?</p>
  
  <p>I'm using a relational database with a framework that allows model definitions with relations. Because the foreign keys are defined through the models, it seems like foreign keys are redundant. When it comes to managing the database of an application in development, editing/deleting tables that are using foreign keys is a hassle.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any advantage to using foreign keys that I'm forgoing by dropping the use of them altogether?</p>