i have a table that has records with its timestamp. now i have a requirement to get the oldest record and the newest record
9/10/2014 6:54
9/10/2014 6:53
9/10/2014 6:51
9/8/2014 8:09
9/8/2014 7:00
9/5/2014 7:38
9/5/2014 3:57
9/5/2014 3:51
9/4/2014 11:09
9/4/2014 8:39
currently this is how i obtain them by sending two database calls which slows downs processing
$new_timestamp = mysql_query("SELECT TIMESTAMP FROM $rectable ORDER BY TIMESTAMP DESC LIMIT 1");
$col_old = mysql_fetch_assoc($new_timestamp);
$old = $col_new['TIMESTAMP'];
$new_timestamp1 = mysql_query("SELECT TIMESTAMP FROM $rectable ORDER BY TIMESTAMP ASC LIMIT 1");
$col_new = mysql_fetch_assoc($new_timestamp1);
$new = $col_new['TIMESTAMP'];
is there any way to optimize this code and fullfiill requirement without sending two database calls, througha special query or a stored proceedure