mysql or mysqli?

[vineld]

Since I have always been used to the usual mysql I have not used mysqli until now but I read that it is to be preferred these days. Is that true? If so, why? Are there performance improvements or just better functionatlity with OOP?

[KevinM1]

Since I have always been used to the usual mysql I have not used mysqli until now but I read that it is to be preferred these days. Is that true? If so, why? Are there performance improvements or just better functionatlity with OOP?

 

I'm not certain of any performance improvements.  The MySQLi page on the PHP site doesn't mention any.  There are other benefits, though.  You already mentioned its OO functionality, and prepared statements are very nice.

[vineld]

Actually I think you answered your own question there. The prepared statements should offer greater speed / better performance. I found this article as well over at Zend which says:

 

*  Greater speed. Enhancements in both the extension and in MySQL have made most operations faster, with certain operations becoming up to 40 times faster as compared to ext/mysql.

 

* Better security. In older versions of the MySQL RDBMS, the possibility existed for an attacker to extract weak password hashes from the network and then recreate a user's password. The new authentication procedure is much more robust and mirrors the attack-resistant authentication procedure of tools like SSH.

 

However, regarding speed it would be nice to see some actual test results. I am certain the prepared statements offer greater speed though.