I am new to objective c programming. I am currently trying to insert data into mysql database. I have read a couple links on this and could not find the exact answer I am looking for. Here is what I am trying to do: I have my app that user inputs a name in a text field and once the press the add button, it makes a connection to my php file and my php file does the rest of the work (using POST method) and adds the name to the mysql dataase. I have seen a lot of people use NSMutableURLRequest : setHTTPMethod :POST`` in their code (in my case my php file does that and I don't haveNSMutableURLRequest` included in my code and it works perfectly fine.) My questions are: Are there any benefits of including NSMutableURLRequest in your code when you can just call your php code to take care of the POST for you? What does NSMutableURLRequest exactly do and which way is more efficient?