Efficient db connect function?

Hey all. I'm currently using the following db connection function, but I'm not sure if it's as efficient as it could be. function dbConnect($SQL) { global $result; // Connect to DB if (!$link = @mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass)) { $result = 0; echo mysql_errno() . ": " . mysql_error() . "\n"; } else // Select DB if (!@mysql_select_db($db_name, $link)) { $result = 0; echo mysql_errno() . ": " . mysql_error() . "\n"; } else { // Execute query if (!$result = @mysql_query($SQL, $link)) { $result = 0; echo mysql_errno() . ": " . mysql_error() . "\n"; } } } return $result; } ******* Is there a faster way to establish a connection & run a query, or am I wasting my time over nothing? ********* --Noah