iD News and Blog

A few helpful string and array PHP functions

I’ve been working a great deal with vBulletin, our forums system, and in doing so have had to brush on my PHP. Through the course of preparing the system for the summer I’ve come across a few PHP functions that I was not aware. Here’s a few that you may not know about:

implode: takes an array of strings and concatenates them, using $glue as a separator.

Example: string implode (string $glue, array $pieces)
$before = array(’one’, ‘two’, ‘three’);
$after = implode(”,”, $before);
echo $after;

Produces:one,two,three

explode: does the exact opposite of implode – it takes a delimiter separated string and transforms it into an array.

Example: array explode (string $delimiter, string $string [, int $limit= -1])
$before = “one,two,three”;
$after = explode(”,”, $before);
var_dump $after;

Produces:
array(’one’, ‘two’, ‘three’)

var_dump: unlike a typical echo, which will just print “Array” for arrays, var_dump will traverse and print the contents of the array.

Example: void var_dump (mixed $expression [, mixed $expression [, $... ]])
$before = “one,two,three”;
var_dump $before;

Produces:
array(3) {
[0]=>string(1) “one”
[1]=>string(1) “two”
[2]=>string(1) “three”
}

Of course, if you use PHP any more than casually then you already know these functions. But if you frequently jump around among web technologies you might find these useful.

 

Tags: arrays, PHP, strings
Posted in iD Tech Bloggers | 1 Comment »

 

 

Robotics: Not Just For Boys

I’m spending this weekend at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, California, for the final round of qualification in the VEX Robotics “Elevation” tournament.  (For a quick rundown on the rules, keep reading.)

iD Tech Camps gave away a scholarship to the “Excellence” award winning team – Team Spyder from Poway High School!

The winning Alliance consisted of 3 teams, the rest of the matches were 2-on-2.  Check out the pictures – Robotics isn’t just for boys!

The ingenuity and enthusiasm I see at these tournaments is unbelievable.  We use the same kits in our iD Tech Camps RoboContenders class that are used for this tournament, and I can’t wait to see what this summer’s crop of roboticists comes up with!

Here’s a quick rundown on the rules, from the vexrobotics.com website:

• Elevation is played on a 12′x12′ square field. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams each, compete in each match which consists of a twenty-second autonomous period followed by two minutes of driver-controlled play.
• The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by placing cubes into goals, and by “owning” goals by having the highest cube in a given goal. Points can also be earned by “parking” on the platform or by “controlling” the bonus cube.
• A bonus is awarded to the alliance that has the most total points at the end of the Autonomous Period.

 

Tags: competition, game, iD Tech Camp, RoboContenders, robotics, robots, scholarship, tournament, vex
Posted in iD Tech Bloggers | No Comments »

 

 

Marta’s iD Journey

As a company, iD Tech Camps is fortunate enough to have a TON of talented employees and staff. In fact, without our Lead Designer Marta, our catalogs, website, and much more wouldn’t be nearly as professional and fun as they are today!

Marta turned her dream of becoming a graphic artist into a reality–and since she loved working for iD Tech Camps so much, she decided to go from summer camp employee to full-time employee at our headquarters in Campbell, CA.

I sat down with Marta and she had some great experiences and advice to bring to the table. Read on to see how Marta has gone on to Do Something Big! Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Marta:

iD: Which iD locations did you teach at?
Marta: I’ve worked as a Lead Instructor, Assistant Director and Director at the Stanford location, and I recently directed at one of our iD Film Academy locations.

iD: When you instructed, what courses did you teach?
M: Web Design & Flash® Animation and the Junior Courses (Adventures in Game Design and Create Your Own Adventure).

iD: What is your current position?
M: I’m the Lead Designer at iD Tech Camps. Every day I get to turn on my computer, open up design programs like Photoshop or grab a pencil and paper to sketch and get paid to be creative. It’s pretty awesome!

iD: What are your favorite things about our summer camps?
M: The friendships and bonds that you form with your summer co-workers. You become so close through working and spending time with them during your off hours that they become lifelong friends.

iD: What do you do for fun when you aren’t at our computer camp?
M: I like to play sports, especially basketball and running, and enjoy traveling, reading, fishing, talking with people who have a different perspective on things and learning from them, and spending time with my family in MN.

iD: Why do you like iD?
M: Within the company, there is an enormous amount of hard work, dedication and willingness to have fun that starts all the way from the top (the CEO, CFO and the managers) and flows through to the rest of the summer staff. Because of this, the atmosphere at each location is bursting with kids that are having so much fun, creating projects that they love and getting the chance to be themselves. I’ve seen so many kids go through camp and start the week off apprehensive about so many things, and then find them at the end of the week with life-long friends, higher self esteem, and a vast amount of new knowledge. In fact I still have some of the thank you notes that I’ve received from campers in the past, and each time I read them it really hits home at what an amazing experience iD and its people provide for their clients.

I’m also really happy that iD Tech Camps will now be offering a Graphic Arts camp in 2009! This is exactly the kind of exposure kids and teens need if they’re interested in the graphic arts and graphic design field.

iD: How has iD inspired you to “Do Something Big”?
M: The company, without a doubt, believes in their employees and stands behind them. Even during my first year as a summer staff, I always knew I had a support system coming from my Director, Regional Manager and the people working at the main office, whether I had met them or not, which is something that you don’t see in every company you work for these days. Fast forward three years and it was no surprise that I wanted to work for a company that motivated me from the beginning and allowed me to see how important it is to do the same for youth.

We have some more BIG news from Marta since we last checked in with her. We are happy to let you know that Marta is now engaged to be married to a former iD Tech Camps staff member, Sebastian “Seabass” Carden. Congratulations Marta and Sebastian, we wish you both the best!

Check out the full interview with Marta by clicking here.

Find out more about the courses Marta taught and the locations she worked at – this could be your chance to do something big with your summer!

 

Tags: summer camp staff
Posted in Do Something Big, iD Tech Camps | 4 Comments »

 

 

The very first computer bug!

The above picture is from 1947 and depicts an actual bug that was extracted from the Havard Mark II, an early computer system built at Harvard University (few computers existed throughout the world at this point). The bug is a moth and was trapped between points at “Relay #70” and “Panel F” and was discovered on September 9, 1947, several months after the computers first realistic tests that July. The full name of the Mark II is: Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, it was project funded by the US Navy who eventually inherited the machine.

Many people use this anecdote to explain the etymology of the term “computer bug” and “debugging” but they are actually incorrect. The term had been used for decades to describe any sort of technical malfunction. The true etymology is unclear but we can trace the term as far back as this quote from Thomas Edison:

“It has been just so in all of my inventions. The first step is an intuition, and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise — this thing gives out and [it is] then that ‘Bugs’ — as such little faults and difficulties are called”

-Edison to Puskas, 13 November 1878

As usual, all facts were made up completely

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_II

 

Tags: Computer Bug, Havard Mark II, Thomas Edison
Posted in iD Tech Bloggers | No Comments »

 

 

Ancient (or at least older than me) Technology: The Memex

The world wide web, the public face of the internet, was officially released in 1992 in Geneva, Switzerland by CERN, a particle physics laboratory. Do take note, this is not the same as “the internet” which is a broader term referring to the interconnection of computers, dating back all the way to 1958 and a country-wide radar initiative. The World Wide Web however, refers to data that despite all its diversity can be watered down to a few simply elements: Text, Hypertext and Multimedia (Image, Video and Sound) and viewed on “browsers”. The desire to freely access those items, is a concept that dates back much farther than 1992, in fact, an intention was purposed in 1945 that closely resembles what we now know as the World Wide Web. The Invention: The Memex, the inventor: Vannevar Bush. Trying to describe how this thing works is probably easier done with a picture (worth 1000 words right?):

What is particularly intriguing is that some of the features of the Memex, such as “commenting” and “user created associations” did not become standard on the web until quite a while after its public release, though now quite common on blogs and wikis.

Unfortunately, this machine was never actually created as we were far too busy building microwaves and nuclear weapons in the 1940’s.

 

Tags: CERN, History of the internet, Memex, Vannevar Bush
Posted in iD Tech Bloggers | No Comments »