In the context of PHP development, what are the considerations when deciding between using MySQL queries or JavaScript for displaying hierarchical data on a webpage?

When deciding between using MySQL queries or JavaScript for displaying hierarchical data on a webpage in PHP development, consider the amount of data being retrieved and the complexity of the hierarchy. If the data is relatively small and the hierarchy is simple, using MySQL queries to fetch and display the data directly may be more efficient. However, if the data is large or the hierarchy is complex, using JavaScript to dynamically load and display the data on the client-side may be a better choice for performance reasons.

// Example PHP code snippet using MySQL queries to display hierarchical data on a webpage

// Connect to MySQL database
$connection = mysqli_connect("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Fetch hierarchical data from database
$query = "SELECT * FROM categories ORDER BY parent_id, category_id";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Display hierarchical data on webpage
echo "<ul>";
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo "<li>{$row['category_name']}</li>";
}
echo "</ul>";

// Close database connection
mysqli_close($connection);