[Albus]

For those who did not understand that, let me elaborate. In a simple one table query you could select x last rows, which would not require the database server to actually 'look' at each row in the table to see if it met your criteria. That's a partial scan. In this hacks case, several tables are linked through join clauses andsome conditionals. This requires the database to scan the full table looking for sets of records that meet the search criteria, and finally get the last x rows. Now, ifyou are with us (Erwin and I) so far, here's why the script even bothers with a limit. With or without the limit, the database will initially do almost as much work, the difference is during transmission time, when the database sends the data back to the calling app (php page in this case). All that data is transmitted via the network. If we limit the data before it's sent, it means less network traffic, sure, but the relative hit on server-side performance is about the same. What Erwin says is true however. Unfortunately, in developing a general use hack, there are some sacrifices we must make in order to make it useful to the most people and trust that those with larger boards have also been around long enough to tailor a hack if required.



That was more than I intended on posting...oh well.