What role does database locking play in PHP scripts that may cause delays in processing other requests?

Database locking in PHP scripts can cause delays in processing other requests when multiple scripts try to access the same database resource simultaneously. To prevent this issue, you can implement database locking mechanisms like row-level locking or table-level locking to ensure that only one script can access the database resource at a time.

// Acquire a lock before accessing the database
$lock = $db->query('SELECT GET_LOCK("my_lock", 10)');

// Perform database operations here

// Release the lock after database operations are completed
$db->query('SELECT RELEASE_LOCK("my_lock")');