What are the potential scalability issues when storing a large number of flashcards and user learning data in a PHP database?

Storing a large number of flashcards and user learning data in a PHP database can lead to scalability issues due to increased database size and slower query performance. To solve this, consider implementing database sharding to distribute the data across multiple servers or using caching mechanisms to reduce the load on the database.

// Example of implementing caching mechanism using Redis
$redis = new Redis();
$redis->connect('127.0.0.1', 6379);

$flashcard_id = 123;
$flashcard_data = $redis->get('flashcard_' . $flashcard_id);

if (!$flashcard_data) {
    // If flashcard data is not found in cache, fetch it from the database
    $flashcard_data = fetch_flashcard_data_from_database($flashcard_id);
    
    // Store the fetched flashcard data in cache for future use
    $redis->set('flashcard_' . $flashcard_id, $flashcard_data);
}

function fetch_flashcard_data_from_database($flashcard_id) {
    // Database query to fetch flashcard data
    return $flashcard_data;
}