Is it bad to initially get an array from MySQL database, and unset an element of it every time a user has seen it?

I am writing an application which shows a user one thing to vote on, at a time. I have a MySQL table which contains these things. Right now I have it set up so that upon login, I query my database to get a limited number of these things, and then I use PHP to turn that into an array. After a user submits a vote, the thing they've already voted on is 'unset' from开发者_StackOverflow中文版 the array. When the new array size is one, I query my database to create a new array. Is this a 'bad' way to do it? Should I instead just query my database to get a new thing for the user to vote on after every time they submit a vote?

Any help/suggestions appreciated.

This will likely get closed because it's subjective...

IMHO, it's all a matter of how you want it to function. Typically, in standard programming, I suggest loading everything up-front so that once loaded, the user's experience is very smooth and without loading.

In Web programming, however, using AJAX or something similarly asynchronous to dynamically modify/rebuild the array as you need is certainly acceptable, especially if the end result is functioning in a way you're happy with.

Bottom line: Either way will work - it depends on your needs.

Reducing database interactions will typically make your web app perform better. If performance is ever going to be a concern, this could help there. On the other hand it makes the code a bit more complicated, which could impact maintainability in the future.

In the end, it's a trade off. As long as everything is done in a clear and logical way, either approach should be ok.