PDO MySQL: Use PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES or not?

Question

This is what I\'ve read so far about PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES:

1. PDO\'s prepare emulation is better for performance since MySQL\'s native prepare bypasses the

Answer 1

I'm surprised no one has mentioned one of the biggest reasons to turn off emulation. With emulation on, PDO returns all integers and floats as strings. When you turn off emulation, integers and floats in MySQL become integers and floats in PHP.

For more information, see the accepted answer for this question: PHP + PDO + MySQL: how do I return integer and numeric columns from MySQL as integers and numerics in PHP?.