What is the best practice for minimizing network traffic when retrieving data from a database in PHP?

To minimize network traffic when retrieving data from a database in PHP, it is best practice to only select the columns that are needed for the specific query instead of retrieving all columns. This can be achieved by specifying the column names in the SELECT statement rather than using "SELECT *". Additionally, using prepared statements can help prevent SQL injection attacks and optimize query performance.

// Example code snippet using prepared statements and selecting specific columns
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase", "username", "password");

$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT column1, column2 FROM mytable WHERE id = :id");
$stmt->bindParam(':id', $id, PDO::PARAM_INT);
$stmt->execute();

$result = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

// Process the retrieved data