What are the potential pitfalls of using the MySQL extension in PHP for creating an account system?

Potential pitfalls of using the MySQL extension in PHP for creating an account system include security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks, lack of support for newer MySQL features, and potential compatibility issues with future PHP versions. To mitigate these risks, it is recommended to switch to the MySQLi or PDO extension, which offer better security features and support for modern database operations.

// Using MySQLi extension for creating an account system
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$database = "dbname";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $database);

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