MySQL Cookbook

Writing Library Files

Problem

You notice that you’re writing similar code for common operations in several programs.

Solution

Put functions to perform those operations in a library file. Then you write the code only once.

Discussion

This section describes how to put code for common operations in library files. Encapsulation (or modularization) isn’t really a “recipe” so much as a programming technique. Its principal benefit is that you don’t have to repeat code in each program you write; instead, you just call a function that’s in the library. For example, by putting the code for connecting to the cookbook database into a library function, you need not write out all the parameters associated with making that connection. Simply invoke the function from your program and you’re connected.

Connection establishment isn’t the only operation you can encapsulate, of course. Later on in the book, other utility functions are developed and placed in library files. All such files, including those shown in this section, can be found under the lib directory of the recipes distribution. As you write your own programs, you’ll probably identify several operations that you perform often and that are good candidates for inclusion in a library. The techniques demonstrated in this section will help you write your own library files.

Library files have other benefits besides making it easier to write programs. They can help portability. For example, if you write connection parameters into each program that ...