[SirCastor]

I'm thinking about setting up a website where a user would be able setup an account and would be given a (very limited) access to MySQL so he/she could learn a bit about connecting to MySQL and making database calls from PHP (or something similar.)

What's the biggest difference between having a whole Database to work with vs. just having access to your own table? Is it significant enough that a user would need his own DB to work with? I think a table would be sufficient, but I could use more opinions.

[Chuckit]

I guess it depends on whether the focus is MySQL or PHP. If they want to learn about joins or something, having more than one table would be necessary. If all they're learning about is how to call to MySQL from PHP, a table would be plenty, I think.

[mania]

you should just write a tutorial on how to install mysql on your mac (its damn easy). and connect to it with your macs php/apache. dont give the world access to your db not even one table.

[SirCastor]

I don't doubt that it's easy to install. Heck, I did it

But that's not the point. This website is intended to help novice programmers learn PHP through practical example. Things like "Write a script that will grab entries from a DB based on this variable, then order them in a list."

I found that as I was learning PHP, the biggest roadblock was that I didn't have any reason to learn what I was doing. I wanted to provide new PHP users some practical examples they could take home and implement.

So I wanted to provide a MySQL table for a registered user that would allow him to access data and throw it out. The plan would be to limit the table in dimensions and size to avoid abuse. It would be so limited that there would be no pratical reason to hack it.

That's the idea anyway.