title: PHP MySQL, mysqli, extensions, drivers, and abstraction layers (what to use)
body: <p>I just started looking into how to do MySQL DB stuff with PHP, and their seems to be may ways to go about doing this (<a href="http://php.net/manual/en/refs.database.php" rel="nofollow">http://php.net/manual/en/refs.database.php</a>).</p>
  
  <p>There is the MySQL Improved Extension, a few other SQL specific libraries, as well as a few abstraction layers.</p>
  
  <p>I know it would really depend on how I will be using the DB, but what one/combination would you suggest for general website backend use.</p>