Andy's blog o' goodness – php, web stuff, raspberry pi… even blacksmithing!

October 6, 2020

Count all indexes on multi-dimension arrays

Following on from my initial I didn’t know PHP did that! post yesterday, it wasn’t long before I had my next realisation about PHP; this time with a simple little parameter to the count function that I didn’t know existed. Everyone knows how to use count, right? It’s super handy in all kinds of circumstances. And, I would hedge bets,...

PHP Comments: 0

October 5, 2020

I didn’t know PHP did that!

For the number of years that I’ve been using PHP (and let’s just say that I know people working in PHP roles today that weren’t alive when I started using it!), I would have thought I’d know a lot of the ins and outs of the language… But I’m very happy to say that it’s still surprising me to this...

PHP Comment: 1

September 19, 2020

Major new version of the PHP OPCache GUI

I have just released a major new version of my OPCache GUI! It looks pretty much the same, but here are the more notable changes: New namespace for the base service class which ensure composer compatibility You can now paginate the cached files list to make it easier to render a large file list Any scripts that have been preloaded...

PHP Comments: 0

July 9, 2020

Making a pewter and resin turtle

A little while ago I thought, “wouldn’t it be great to make something out of pewter? I want to play with resin, too. Maybe I can use them together?” You know, the normal every day thoughts all of us developers have, right? Actually, I say that, but developers really are a creative bunch of people. So many of them that...

General Comments: 0

April 26, 2020

Forged a little candle holder

Today I fired up the forge to attempt my first ‘in a jar candle holder’. It came out alright, though I appreciate that I have a lot of technique to figure out. After I was done forging I needed to coat the candle holder. My mother-in-law keeps bees and gave me some wax which is often used to coat metal....

Blacksmithing Comments: 0

April 26, 2020

New Chrome and Firefox Plugin

I use GitHub on a daily basis and for the most part it works for me. However, part of my day-to-day is to conduct code reviews and quite often they are reviews with quite a number of files. Now, it may be a sign of my age or the fact that I just can’t retain any knowledge whatsoever, but when...

javascript Comments: 0

April 26, 2020

Seriously?!

Has it really been over a year since I last posted? Seriously?! Where has that time gone, I ask you! Whatever thief took it, I want it back… please? And where are we in the world? Global pandemic, that’s where! So I hope wherever you are, you’re taking all the sensible precautions, socially isolating, wearing masks, and generally taking care...

General Comments: 0

April 22, 2019

Genetic Algorithms and the Mona Lisa

Way back when I was at university (way, way, waaay back) I did some Artificial Intelligence stuff; genetic algorithms, neural networks, and the like. Honestly, though, I really don’t remember much (any!) of it, though I do remember enjoying the genetic algorithms side of things. I haven’t thought about that kind of thing for quite some time, but the other...

Experiments/javascript Comments: 0

March 19, 2019

WCAG colour checker

About five years ago I created a small PHP class that would check the contrast of a foreground and background colour and give a report on whether it was accessible in accordance with the WCAG recommendations (so either AA or AAA compliant). I’ve recently had cause to dig out that script which gave me the opportunity to also create a...

Code snippets/javascript/PHP Comments: 0

March 8, 2019

First attempt at a kiridashi

A kiridashi is a small Japanese knife with a chisel grind and sharp point and it used as a utility knife, scoring or carving. I had some really rusty angle iron kicking around still, so I thought I’d get in a little practice. Unfortunately I still have no forge, so couldn’t try to smith the shape so I went with...

Blacksmithing/Experiments Comments: 0