What is the difference between connection pooling and connection management in SQLAlchemy?

What is the difference between connection pooling and connection management in SQLAlchemy?

Connection pooling in SQLAlchemy refers to the practice of maintaining a pool of database connections that can be reused, improving performance. Connection management, on the other hand, involves handling the lifecycle of these connections, including opening, closing, and managing their state.

Why is connection pooling important for performance?

Connection pooling reduces the overhead of establishing new connections for each database request, which can be time-consuming. By reusing existing connections, applications can handle more requests efficiently.

How do I implement connection pooling in my SQLAlchemy application?

You can implement connection pooling in SQLAlchemy by using the create_engine function with the pool_size and max_overflow parameters to configure the pool.

What are some common issues with connection management?

Common issues include connection leaks, where connections are not properly closed, and exhaustion of the connection pool, which can lead to application slowdowns.