As a person who has been developing database applications for several
decades my advice is to ALWAYS start with the database design, then build
your code around that. The database must be properly normalised otherwise it
will be difficult to get at the data you need in an efficient manner.

OO "purists" will say that you should start with your class hierarchy and
leave the database till last as it is a "mere implementation detail". This
usually results in a software structure which is different from the database
structure - known as Object-Relational impedance mismatch - and requires the
addition of an extra layer of software known as an Object Relational Mapper
(ORM). I consider these to be EVIL, as discussed in
http://www.tonymarston.net/php-mysql...-are-evil.html

--
Tony Marston
http://www.tonymarston.net
http://www.radicore.org


""Jorge"" <japreja@msn.com> wrote in message
news:E0.C0.40102.C04BE184@pb1.pair.com...
> First I would like to say that I have had PHP experience but not enough to
> say I am a PHP developer.
>
> I want to use PHP to build a site that uses MySQL, I am building it from
> scratch so I don't know where to start, should I start with PHP and design
> a database around my code, or should I designs the db and design the site
> are the db.
>
> is it just a matter of preference or is there a recommended way to do
> this?
>
> Thanks