[Tutor] MySQL api does not accept variable.

[Alan Gauld]

> I can't think of the con's and the pro's of keeping open 
> the mysql connection when the script starts and close 
> it when it ends.. 

The reasoning is that you want to open the connection at 
the start of a script do all your processing then close it.
In between you might want to add data, create new tables, 
select data and other thoings, including getting a list of users.

Now with your code you would need to close the connection 
before calling your function then reopen it again to fiunish 
off the rest of the work. Its OK if your function is only ever 
used in a single script and is the only access to the database, 
but if you ever want to get the users in any other program 
your function is almost unusably inconvenient.

> computers (I run this script at a p4 2.6 Ghz 512 RAM with a lot free
> memory) I don't think that there will be any real difference.

You are quite correct for a single user on a modern PC. But...
It would make a difference in a high volume environment with 
many users (like a web application say), or on an older machine 
but the real value is when you want to use the function as part 
of a bigger program that has already opened the connection 
to the database.

Regards,

Alan G.