What are some best practices for organizing and structuring PHP scripts to avoid errors like the one mentioned in the forum thread?

Issue: The error mentioned in the forum thread could be avoided by properly organizing and structuring PHP scripts. One common best practice is to separate concerns by dividing code into smaller, reusable functions and classes. This helps in keeping the codebase clean, readable, and easier to maintain. Code snippet:

<?php

// Define a function to handle the database connection
function connectToDatabase() {
    $host = "localhost";
    $username = "username";
    $password = "password";
    $dbname = "database";

    $conn = new mysqli($host, $username, $password, $dbname);

    if ($conn->connect_error) {
        die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
    }

    return $conn;
}

// Call the connectToDatabase function to establish a database connection
$connection = connectToDatabase();

// Use the $connection variable to perform database operations
// Close the connection when done
$connection->close();

?>