[thelist] Backend of a shopping cart system...

[Jay Blanchard]

[snip]
While it works beautifully, I can't help but wonder if the system would be a
bit more scalable and perhaps
easier to maintain and add to (later on, if necessary) if it was based on a
database rather than arrays.

My question is then, should I stick with arrays or move to the db?  The db
server is a separate machine, not terribly overloaded, and the system specs
are great (quad-proc, 4gb ram, etc.).  I just don't know if there's any
performance benefit to be gained from this though, since the arrays ARE
local and ARE residing in memory constantly, therefore access to them is
very fast, whereas the db server is across a network.
[/snip]

Given the DB specs, not to mention ease of use and scalability, moving to
the DB will not reveal a loss of performance. As the arrays get larger,
performance begins to degrade there too.

For my $ I'd go with the DB...it's a long term safe-bet IMHO.

Jay