NYCPHP Meetup

[harvey]

Hello NYPHP,

Let's say that I have a db and it has a table with list of Senators. Each 
Senator record has a field for state_fid. Then there's a States table with 
the names of the states and their associated state_id's. The Senator table 
also has a field for party_fid. And there's a Party table with the names of 
the parties and their associated party_id's.

Now suppose I want to query the db and alphabetically list the Name, State, 
and Party of each Senator. Question is this--in general, which (if either) 
is the preferred method?

Create one query similar to:
Query Senator
Select senate.senator_name, state.state_name, party.party_name
 From senate, state, party
Where senate.state_fid = state.state_id
And senate.party_fid = party.party_id
Order by senate.senator_name

Then loop through the results to print.

Or create multiple queries similar to:
Select senator_name, state_fid, party_fid
 From senate
Order by senator_name

And then loop through the results with add'l queries similar to:
Query state
Select name from state where state_id = $row_Senator['state_fid']
...
Query party
Select name from party where party_id = $row_Senator['party_fid']
...

The first method would seem more elegant, but it seems to take longer also 
(although that might just be my imagination).

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Harvey