title: Performance mySQL: Long string in one column in database table or add extra columns?
body: <p>if I have a muli-dimensional array like that I take from a form submit:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$participants = array(
  
      'participant1'=&gt; array(
          'name'=&gt;'jim',
          'age' =&gt; '15',
          'grade' =&gt; '8th'),
  
      'participant2'=&gt; array(
          'name'=&gt;'tom',
          'age' =&gt; '17',
          'grade' =&gt; '9th'),
  ....
  );
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is it better two store whole array into one db column named "Participants" or create a separate column in the row for each participant <strong>PERFORMANCE</strong> wise if i have a maximum number of participants?</p>