So what happens when some other script—which also requires app_config.php—tries
to connect with mysql_connect? It’s going to use $password, but now $password
isn’t correct anymore. It’s set to “hijinks,” and chaos will ensue.
What you really want is for those values in app_config.php to be constant, and never
change. You can do this with the special define function. Open up app_config.php
and change your code: