Posted by Jerry Stuckle on 06/18/06 15:07

Malcolm Dew-Jones wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle (jstucklex@attglobal.net) wrote:
> : Colin McKinnon wrote:
> : > Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> : >
> : >
> : >>Kyle Teague wrote:
> : >>
> : >>>What would give better performance, serializing a multidimensional array
> : >>>and storing it in a single entry in a table or storing each element of
> : >>>the array in a separate table and associating the entries with the entry
> : >>>in the other table?
> : >>>
> : >>
> : >>That depends. Is the multidimensional array a single entity - or is it a
> : >>collection of entities?
> : >>
> : >>Do some research on "database normalization". It's almost never a good
> : >>idea to store multiple entities in a single field in a RDB.
> : >>
> : >>BTW you can still do it with one query by joining tables.
> : >>
> : >>One other thing - this isn't a PHP question - you should be asking in a
> : >>group related to your database, such as comp.databases.mysql.
> : >>
> : >
> : >
> : > I don't think its OT. It really depends how big the array is and whether you
> : > need all of it in memory every time you access it. If you only need a
> : > specific element, I was surprised to find that even for quite small sets of
> : > values the database was faster.
> : >
> : > Build a test rig and try it out for yourself.
> : >
> : > HTH
> : >
> : > C.
>
> : Colin,
>
> : Look at the question again. He's asking about the method of storing data in a
> : database (database structure), not array handling.
>
> Look at the question again. He's asking about "serializing a
> multidimensional array", which is php array handling.
>

Yes - but only as it affects how to store it in the database. Without the
database the serialization is meaningless.

> In other words, he is asking whether it is better to implement his data
> structure in php and use the database just as a blob-like storage medium,
> or is it better to implement his data structure in the database and use
> php just as an access method to get at the (already structured) data.
>

Which is why he needs to be asking in the database newsgroup.

> I would normally tend to towards defining the correct database structure
> to hold the data. It will be more flexible in the long run, and you still
> have the option of loading the data into a php data structure if you
> really need to do that for speed in some situations.
>

It depends entirely on how he's going to use the data. Does he need to retrieve
all the data all the time? Or just bits and pieces of it?

--
==================
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Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

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