How can beginners improve their understanding of PHP and MySQL to avoid common errors like the one mentioned in the forum thread?

Issue: The common error mentioned in the forum thread is likely related to improper handling of MySQL connections in PHP. Beginners can improve their understanding by ensuring they establish a connection to the MySQL database before attempting to query or manipulate data. Solution: To avoid this error, beginners should always start by establishing a connection to the MySQL database using PHP's mysqli_connect function. This ensures that the subsequent queries are executed on a valid database connection. PHP Code Snippet:

// Establish a connection to the MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database_name";

$conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check the connection
if (!$conn) {
    die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
}