If you advocate PDO, answer with PDO [closed]

Question

Hope this is on-topic, seems meta-ish.

I would like to address the issue of mysql_* functions; for the sane many of you who don't bone up on your PHP doctrine, a little back story. The notorious mysql_* family of functions are related to database access and are set to be deprecated in the near future. The official documentation lists them as "discouraged", and recommends using PDO. The party line is to SHUN.

In a wider context, this sort of situation may exist for other tags, and it boils down to the same thing.

Currently, many seasoned users crusade against these mysql_* functions, leaving copy/paste comments on every question even remotely referring to these database pariahs and directing users to read articles advocating and demonstrating PDO. Others work it into their answer. To these programmers, I can only say "thanks" -- every new tutorial or Q/A on the internet that uses the most up-to-date practices helps wash out the mountain of outdated code using the doomed old functions.

But. If you look at the last question there, you note that though the answerer did disclaimer against mysql_*, they used the deprecated method in sample code to form their answer. The disclaimer is meaningless, but the answer can be defended by saying "I told them about the right way, then showed them the wrong way", or "the answer is based on THEIR code". Perfectly true. I compare this to stopping someone from driving a nail with a glass bottle. You tell how great hammers are and that they are the tool for the job (without actually producing one for inspection). But then you come back, like Colombo, and remember to mention that one could wrap a towel around the glass, preventing a horrible cut when the bottle breaks. You then hand them a towel.

The first point of this post is to put forward a premise: as a Q/A site, StackOverflow exerts a major influence over the adoption of one particular practice or another by the content of answers. Answers here today are Google search results for next month's rank greenhorn. The second point here is the idea that, given the former, we must be more proactive in advocating best practice in the content of all our answers.

Every php/mysql_* question that is posted (and there are several hundred posted a day) have the potential to encourage or discourage best practice. Is it appropriate to downvote an answer for simply referring to mysql_* (except, of course, to discourage it)? Delete the answer? Seems extreme, but I feel we have a role to live up to -- this is what separates the StackOverflows from the w3Schools and bottles from hammers.

Hammers, hammers for everyone, I say!

Agree? Fine -- how? Disagree? Why?

Answer 1

You can't force someone to answer using the latest and shiniest methods. Most often, the mysql questions are being asked by folks just on the verge of starting out in some programming - and you guessed it, they googled for a tutorial, came across some old document and BAM! they suddenly have code that mostly works. An answer to a question like this, using something that is totally different to the code that they are using is certainly not intuitive and would only help a few people. Most of the new programmers probably wouldn't even understand it - they have probably spent the last three hours trying to make heads or tails of the 50 lines of PHP that they wrote and altered from the tutorial.

Most of questions in this bucket boil down to:

• My code has an error that I don't understand
• I just want it to work
• I want to know the time, not how to make a cookoo-clock

Most of the answers in these questions point out the exact error. Including a caveat in the answer or a comment telling them about PDO is a good thing, it lets them know about the current and safer technology (which obviously wasn't in their tutorial) - but imagine that someone is forced to use an old PHP install, a ver 4.x.x - answering with 5.x.x functions isn't going to help them either - but they are the most up to date.

Lastly, if someone is asking a question like this, don't you think they are more likely to be more open to a comment suggestion moving to PDO if the answer first solves their problem? Won't they think Hey, this person solved my issue, and they suggest I should look into PDO. I better click the link they provide to see what it is about... than if the answer is another 50 lines of code that they have no idea about and looks like spaghetti to them?

The best answers are ones that are correct and that the question asker can understand. An answer that is perfectly correct, but the question asker cannot understand isn't a good answer. It might be correct, but it isn't great.

Answer 2

If you look at the last question there, you note that though the answerer did disclaimer against mysql_*, they used the deprecated method in sample code to form their answer.

Perfect

The disclaimer is meaningless

Not at all

but the answer can be defended by saying "I told them about the right way, then showed them the wrong way", or "the answer is based on THEIR code".

Sounds like a spectacular defense (the second half, anyway)

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Fluffeh's answer covered most of what I wanted to say, but focused more on "these guys are noobs anyway, don't strain them" instead of "they might have a good reason they don't want to get into". A spectacular number of forums answer the question "I'm using widget X to do Y and it's not working" with "wait, you're using widget X? WTF are you thinking?". They're under the impression they persuade the impressionable beginner into abandoning widget X. Instead, the poster just sighs and leaves to find somebody who will actually answer their question

My answer to "how do we answer questions that do things wrong" has been the same forever: tell them, in great detail if you like, just how wrong they're doing things. Then tell them how to do it anyway, because they might have a very good reason. You can even post both ways if you're ambitious, but if they're going to learn PDO they're going to do it from the docs, not from your random SO answer. Everything outside of the actual question that can be ignored generally should be