What best practices should PHP beginners follow when working with relational data in PHP scripts?

Beginners working with relational data in PHP scripts should follow best practices such as using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks, properly sanitizing user input, and validating data before inserting it into the database. It is also important to establish a clear database schema and use proper naming conventions for tables and columns to maintain consistency.

// Example of using prepared statements to insert data into a database table

// Establish a database connection
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my_database', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare a SQL statement with placeholders
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (username, email) VALUES (:username, :email)");

// Bind parameters to the placeholders
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':email', $email);

// Set values for the parameters
$username = 'john_doe';
$email = 'john.doe@example.com';

// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();