Style questions: variable in echo, preparing sql queries

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Two questions about style: 1) echo "PartID is $PartID"; seems to work fine. Is there a reason that I see others use: echo "PartID is " . $PartID; 2) When querying a db, I see users who do something like: $sql = "select foo from bar"; $results = mysql_query("$sql") Is there a reason not to just put the SQL code directly in the function: $results=mysql_query("select foo from bar") ? c -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 6.5.8ckt http://irfaiad.virtualave.net/ Comment: PGP Signed for message authentication and verification Comment: KeyID: 0xD68B61E851046CFD iQA/AwUBOhviMtaLYehRBGz9EQIuDQCg36ncNJjE6+9t9hzdN+UpQbdsKB0AoKvu iTO3SdgXpxg7v5QXLkRDGgco =gcug -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----