Yesterday I had to interview two guys for a PHP job. One had about 8 years experience in programming (not just PHP) in general, one was a sysadmin. As usual, I ask interievees to solve some code excersize (in this case, save an email to the DB). That is the code that the guy with 8 years programming has written:

<?php
	$persone_name = $_POST["nm"];
	$CityID = $_POST["ct_id"];
	$message = $_POST["msg"];
	
	$cn = mySQL_connect("127.0.0.1","root");
	mysql_select_db("myDB");
	mysql_query("INSERT INTO tbl_data (persone_name,city_id,message) VALUES ('" .   
	                                      $persone_name . "', '" .$CityID . '",'" .  $message . "'");
	
	mysql_close($cn);
?>

And here is the code that the sysadmin has written:

function save_to_db($host, $dbuser, $dbpassword, $dbname, $msg)
{
	//this function saves sent by parameters data to database
	$conn = new mysqli($host, $dbuser, $dbpassword, $dbname);
	
	$id=NULL;
	
	//preparing a query
	$stmt= @$conn->prepare("INSERT INTO msg VALUES (?,? ,? ,? ,?)");
	if($stmt == FALSE)
	{
		echo $conn->error;
		$conn->close();		
	}
	//binding data
	$stmt->bind_param('sssss',$id,$msg['from'],$msg['to'],$msg['subject'],$msg['content']);
	
	//escaping strings to prevent a SQL injections
	foreach($msg as &$item) {
		$item=$conn->real_escape_string($item);
	}
	
	// excuting a query
	$result=@$stmt->execute();
	
	return $msg;
}

I got that code as the first thing that I saw when I opened my mail, and that was a good way to start the day.

I don't think that I need to say who will get the job, right? And remember, the first one was written by someone with 8 years experience.

That is for the next time someone accuse me from despairing from the state of programmers on the market.