php: mysql connecting... (all please)

Hi all,
has anybody worked with mysql_pconnect and mysql_connect?

What's the difference?

I tested both with a php-server which connects to a sql-server and it seemed to me that a persistent connection is used nearly the same way as a normal connection, but another user can't use an existing p-connection. So where's the sense in it?

Thanks for your opinions,
Dennis.

A persistant connection is used when there is going to be a lot of connections being opened. If there's a persistant connection opened, and another connection is requested, it returns the link identifier for the existing connection rather than opening a new one and wasting valuable server resources.

-Dennis