Author Archive

07
Dec
Jobs for international Coders II
admin

include_once(ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/rss.php’);
$rss = fetch_rss(‘http://www.RentACoder.com/RentACoder/misc/LinkToUs/RssFeed_newBidRequests.asp’);
$maxitems = 50;
$items = array_slice($rss->items, 0, $maxitems);
?>

No items

‘;
else
foreach ( $items as $item ) : ?>

“;

$item['description'] = str_replace(“font-weight:bold;”, “font-weight:normal;”, $item['description']);

$item['description'] = str_replace(“font-size:12px; color:#006699;”, “ffont-size:10px; color:#000000;”, $item['description']);

echo ““.$item['description'].”“;

?>

Category: coding, personal development  Leave a Comment
03
Dec
How I code, what I code and what Tools I use
admin

Most Time I fix the existing Code of my Clients Homepages rather than installing new Systems. So I do not  use so often Frameworks or other Tools that store Code related Data in extra Files. In most cases I work simple around with my Notepad or a basic HTML Editor like Frontpage (yes, its quit old, but still it loads very fast and that is what i need)

I understand that for a new big project it could be interesting to use a framework, but after all my work I understood that we just need a organized Work and our standart pc works already as a framework.

A folder for Scripts we often need, a logic structure for our folders and some documentation and we can be as fast as with a framework. People often think such a framework makes there work so easy they just need to give some orders and the code is finished. But there isn’t a software like that, because its the coders creativity that make that. Whats great for sure is if we have some Script Collections that helps.

But also that is mostly needed when we make new systems. Some Graphic effects or AJAX gimmicks. But when you are specialized like me to fix a Code you do not need so many scripts, you just have to understand how a code is working, analyse it and fix what is needed. Or what I am often do is creating some turnarounds like, a Client have two databases and each of them with a different language and he would like that his user just need to register from one form and come registered in both databases (lets say one Forum and one Shop). So here its for example a trick not to work direct with the Database, just get the output Data from the Register form and post it direct into the other Form.

If you can use the standart Post Command fine, if there are some validations that you need to check you may send the Data via a autosubmit Javascript and should there be something wrong from the input the second form will automatically complain, so the user have to change his data there. Finally it looks, the user enter his data in form1, you grab the data, send it to form 2 (what the user don’t see) and if all is ok, the user just see as next screen the result from the register form2 and not from form 1. Finally u save a lot of time instead of analysing the Database procedures. That can take a long time, especially when its coded in OOP and lot of sub-routines.

So i am quit not good in OOP and really i even don’t like it so much. Its a great playing field for coders where you can profile yourself and do funny stuff. Once I was in my Playtime for OOP I did a OOP for a Basic Language and I had quit a lot of fun. But the argument that the OOP code is more understandable than a usual code is not my opinion. And when I have the source code i also can easy change the code where it is needed instead to write extensions of the OOP. I know there are many enthusiastic Coders who will complain in that point with me, but its just my personal opinion and i will still code in the old school way.

In the last Days I checked again the new versions of Dreamweaver, Ms Expression, Eclipse, Zent Framework and Delphi for PHP 2.0, so you dont think because I work mostly with Standarttools I am not interested whats actual going on. Instead I am very interested, but most so called new Features are just good Marketing. My result in that. Dreamweaver (actual Version cs4) is still a good Tool to help in most cases. You have a good working WYSIWYG Editor, PHP code is highlighted and i like this Spry Modules for Sliding Effects. MS Expression is even quit good, and you can re-size Divs just by Mouse what I am missing in Dreamweaver. Eclipse as a Coding Environment is also very nice when you need something to format your code, Zent Framework, sorry guys, you may help me in that, I don’t see right now in just a short test what my really benefit is in this, also when they claim on the homepage and other coders write how helpful it is to make faster coding.

Delphi for PHP finally is a very interesting new concept because you work on a desktop system and it generates from your designing a php code. I am not finished now with testing, but I will give it some more try. By the Way in Dreamweaver are also special Mysql Database connection modules. I like the idea that I just need to make some clicks and I have a database connection, even with page Next and back and so on.

Nice for a beginner, but for a individual Homepage I prefer to code it handmade, just because I have more control (full control) for what happens and how it happen. Yes I could change the code that dreamweaver generates, but in that case I am faster with some of my standart scripts where i just need to change even what tables are needed. At all, there is always a move in the coding scene, there will be always new tools and frameworks and every company for sure will claim his product as the most cool, fastest and best. For my its still the same. Look for a good Online Resource where all Commands of your language are described. so for example for PHP its http://php.net, a simple editor like notepad or Dreamweaver and you are done.

Category: privat chris  Leave a Comment
26
Nov
Easy handling for delimiter PHP Echo Outputs
admin

Sometimes you have some complex Echo and in your String are  ’ or ” and you may come quit crazy with the delimeter of it  like:  echo “<a href=”goto.htm”>test</a>”.  Already you would created an Error by including ” in “”. Now you can choose to make outside ‘ or Inside. But when the Echo comes more complex, you may get some Headache where to use ” and where ‘ and where ` :)

For that Reason you can write your Output for the Echo in <<< label  (your content)  label; and all is done.

 

<?php

echo <<< _end_this

Just a Demo to see, that you can include ‘ or ” or ` in your Output without Problem.<br>Like for Standart Html Commands as <a href=”test.htm”><b>test</b></a><br> and so on :)

_end_this;

?>

Category: php  Leave a Comment
26
Nov
Optimize your PHP Code
admin

When you like really like to code as a pro you should take care on the Optimiziation of your Code. You can speed up your Code by Factor 7, just by taking care on a few Hints.

 

 

 

For example when you look for Scalability you have to make much more compromises instead when you look to speed up your Code.

Especialy when you expect a lot of Traffic you always should look for speed. What is the best System when it is too slow. Just remember your own acting in the Net, when a Page is too slow, you just leave it.

Here I collected you some of the most interesting Tips about that Topic. 

I researched within the following Resources: 

http://www.Cluesheet.com
http://www.chazzuka.com/blog/?p=163
http://reinholdweber.com/?p=3
http://phplens.com/lens/php-book/optimizing-debugging-php.php
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/weerning20021209.php3?print_mode=1 

Thanks to all the Coders before me, who collected already quit a lot of that Information.

  • Introduce your PHP-code with <?php because a simple <? may cause interference with XML-code.
  • Do use single quotes over double quotes.
  • Do use switch over lots of if statements
    <?php
    echo ($var==1)?'var is 1':'var is not 1'; 
    ?>

    instead of 

    <?php 
    if ($var==1){
        echo     'var is 1';
    }
    else{
        echo     'var is not 1';
    } 

    ?> 

  • Do avoid testing loop conditionals with function tests every iteration eg.
    for($i=0;i<=count($x);$i++){…
  • Do use foreach for looping collections/arrays. PHP4 items are byval, greater than PHP5 items are byref
  • Do consider using the Singleton Method when creating complex PHP classes.
  • Do use POST over GET for all values that will wind up in the database for TCP/IP packet performance reasons.
  • Do use ctype_alnum,ctype_alpha and ctype_digit over regular expression to test form value types for performance reasons.
  • Do use full file paths in production environment over basename/fileexists/open_basedir to avoid performance hits for the filesystem having to hunt through the file path. Once determined, serialize and/or cache path values in a $_SETTINGS array. $_SETTINGS["cwd"]=cwd(./);
  • Do use require/include over require_once/include_once to ensure proper opcode caching.
  • Do use tmpfile or tempnam for creating temp files/filenames
  • Do use a proxy to access web services (XML or JSOM) on 
  • If a method can be static, declare it static. Speed improvement is by a factor of 4.
  • echo is faster than print.(* compare with list from phplens by John Lim)
  • Use echo’s multiple parameters instead of string concatenation.
  • Set the maxvalue for your for-loops before and not in the loop.
    <?php 
    $max    =filesize('myfile.dat'); //just to make an example
    for ($i=0; $i<$max; $i++){
    //your code
    }
    ?>

    to

    <?php 
    for ($i=0; $i<filesize("myfile.dat"); $i++)

    ?> 

  • Unset your variables to free memory, especially large arrays.
  • Avoid magic like __get, __set, __autoload
  • require_once() is expensive
  • Use full paths in includes and requires, less time spent on resolving the OS paths.
  • If you need to find out the time when the script started executing, $_SERVER[’REQUEST_TIME’] is preferred to time()
  • See if you can use strncasecmp, strpbrk and stripos instead of regex
  • str_replace is faster than preg_replace, but strtr is faster than str_replace by a factor of 4
  • If the function, such as string replacement function, accepts both arrays and single characters as arguments, and if your argument list is not too long, consider writing a few redundant replacement statements, passing one character at a time, instead of one line of code that accepts arrays as search and replace arguments.
  • It’s better to use select statements than multi if, else if, statements.
  • Error suppression with @ is very slow.
  • Turn on apache’s mod_deflate
  • Close your database connections when you’re done with them
  • $row[’id’] is 7 times faster than $row[id]
  • Error messages are expensive
  • Do not use functions inside of for loop, such as for ($x=0; $x < count($array); $x) The count() function gets called each time.
  • Incrementing a local variable in a method is the fastest. Nearly the same as calling a local variable in a function.
  • Incrementing a global variable is 2 times slow than a local var.
  • Incrementing an object property (eg. $this->prop++) is 3 times slower than a local variable.
  • Incrementing an undefined local variable is 9-10 times slower than a pre-initialized one.
  • Just declaring a global variable without using it in a function also slows things down (by about the same amount as incrementing a local var). PHP probably does a check to see if the global exists.
  • Method invocation appears to be independent of the number of methods defined in the class because I added 10 more methods to the test class (before and after the test method) with no change in performance.
  • User HTML for Output instead PHP
    <h3> Today </h3>
    <p>Today I met <?php echo $person; ?>. That was nice.</p>

    instead of 

    <?php
    echo  "<h3>Today</h3><p>Today I met $person. That was nice.";

    ?> 

  • Methods in derived classes run faster than ones defined in the base class.
  • A function call with one parameter and an empty function body takes about the same time as doing 7-8 $localvar++ operations. A similar method call is of course about 15 $localvar++ operations.
  • Surrounding your string by ‘ instead of ” will make things interpret a little faster since php looks for variables inside “…” but not inside ‘…’. Of course you can only do this when you don’t need to have variables in the string.
  • When echoing strings it’s faster to separate them by comma instead of dot. Note: This only works with echo, which is a function that can take several strings as arguments.
  • A PHP script will be served at least 2-10 times slower than a static HTML page by Apache. Try to use more static HTML pages and fewer scripts.
  • Your PHP scripts are recompiled every time unless the scripts are cached. Install a PHP caching product to typically increase performance by 25-100% by removing compile times.
  • Cache as much as possible. Use memcached – memcached is a high-performance memory object caching system intended to speed up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load. OP code caches are useful so that your script does not have to be compiled on every request
  • When working with strings and you need to check that the string is either of a certain length you’d understandably would want to use the strlen() function. This function is pretty quick since it’s operation does not perform any calculation but merely return the already known length of a string available in the zval structure (internal C struct used to store variables in PHP). However because strlen() is a function it is still somewhat slow because the function call requires several operations such as lowercase & hashtable lookup followed by the execution of said function. In some instance you can improve the speed of your code by using an isset() trick.
    Ex. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 

    1. if (strlen($foo) < 5) { echo “Foo is too short”; } 

    vs. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 

    1. if (!isset($foo{5})) { echo “Foo is too short”; } 

    Calling isset() happens to be faster then strlen() because unlike strlen(), isset() is a language construct and not a function meaning that it’s execution does not require function lookups and lowercase. This means you have virtually no overhead on top of the actual code that determines the string’s length.

  • When incrementing or decrementing the value of the variable $i++ happens to be a tad slower then ++$i. This is something PHP specific and does not apply to other languages, so don’t go modifying your C or Java code thinking it’ll suddenly become faster, it won’t. ++$i happens to be faster in PHP because instead of 4 opcodes used for $i++ you only need 3. Post incrementation actually causes in the creation of a temporary var that is then incremented. While pre-incrementation increases the original value directly. This is one of the optimization that opcode optimized like Zend’s PHP optimizer. It is a still a good idea to keep in mind since not all opcode optimizers perform this optimization and there are plenty of ISPs and servers running without an opcode optimizer.
  • Not everything has to be OOP, often it is too much overhead, each method and object call consumes a lot of memory.
  • Do not implement every data structure as a class, arrays are useful, too
  • Don’t split methods too much, think, which code you will really re-use
  • You can always split the code of a method later, when needed
  • Make use of the countless predefined functions
  • If you have very time consuming functions in your code, consider writing them as C extensions
  • Profile your code. A profiler shows you, which parts of your code consumes how many time. The Xdebug debugger already contains a profiler. Profiling shows you the bottlenecks in overview
  • mod_gzip which is available as an Apache module compresses your data on the fly and can reduce the data to transfer up to 80%
  • foreign domains using XMLHTTP to avoid cross-domain errors. eg. foo.com<–>XMLHTTP<–>bar.com
  • Do use error_reporting (E_ALL); during debug.
  • Do set Apache allowoverride to “none” to improve Apache performance in accessing files/directories.
  • Do use a fast fileserver for serving static content (thttpd). static.mydomain.com, dynamic.mydomain.com
  • Do serialize application settings like paths into an associative array and cache or serialize that array after first execution.
  • Do use PHP output control buffering for page caching of heavilty accessed pages
  • Do use PDO prepare over native db prepare for statements. mysql_attr_direct_query=>1
  • Do NOT use SQL wildcard select. eg. SELECT *
  • Do use database logic (queries, joins, views, procedures) over loopy PHP.
  • Do use shortcut syntax for SQL insers if not using PDO parameters parameters. eg. INSERT INTO MYTABLE (FIELD1,FIELD2) VALUES ((”x”,”y”),(”p”,”q”));
And yes also a very good Tip from Marion Weerning written on PHPBuilder.com with this simple routine:
 
<?php
$timeparts = explode(” “,microtime());
$starttime = $timeparts[1].substr($timeparts[0],1);//insert your code here  

$timeparts = explode(” “,microtime());
$endtime = $timeparts[1].substr($timeparts[0],1);
echo bcsub($endtime,$starttime,6)
?>

 

 

Category: php  Leave a Comment
26
Nov
Protect your PHP Code
admin

Sometimes you may need to protect your PHP Code. For example when you like to monetize it. For that reason I searched for Applications that help to solve that case and found one Product that works quit fast and does not need any extra Loader. Just Decode any PHP Code and upload it to your Server instead of the Original Code.

TrueBug PHP Obfuscator & Encoder is for PHP application developers use to protect their source codes from modification, the Obfuscate functional will replace class, function, and variable names in PHP source codes with md5-hashes, making source code harder to understand and reverse engineering. The Software also includes simple PHP Encoder engine to encode through the source code by using byte-code technique, and no loader is required to install on the server machine.

Features:

  • Friendly user interface, developers can easily select files to be obfuscated and encoded, can select which classes, functions, and variables to be included or excluded from obfuscation.
  • Run scripts under virtual hosting accounts with no change to the default PHP installation and require no changes to the standard web server installation.
  • Free minor upgrades

System Requirements:

  • 750 MHz CPU with minimum 256 MB of RAM
  • Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
I found several Solutions who does charge up to $299 for their Product. Your get TrueBug starting at $24.95.
Personaly I say that is a very fair Price for such a good working Tool. 
Get your PHP Protection at: http://www.truebug.com/
Category: php  One Comment
26
Nov
Regex any URL in PHP
admin

How to validate URLs by a small RegEx Function:

 

function valid_url($str) {
return (!preg_match(‘/^(http|https|ftp):\/\/([A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*(?:\.[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*)+):?(\d+)?\/?/i’, $str)) ? FALSE : TRUE;
}

 

And how does it work:

^ is an anchor meaning it must start with the pattern
(http|https|ftp) matches and captures one of the three
:\/\/ is :// literally. (\/ is / escaped)
([A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*(?:\.[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*)+)

(letter meaning a-z in the following)

1 letter or number
any number of letters, numbers, _ or -.
A literal dot
1 letter or number
any number of letters, numbers, _ or -.
+ means the previous pattern 1 or more times, and the grouping is around (?:\.[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*)+, so it means that pattern any number of times. (It allows for .co.uk for example. )

:? (\d+)?\/?/i
0-1 :
Any amount of digits
An optional literal /

 

You may also like this Tutorial for regular Expressions:
>>Regular Expression Tutorial

Category: php  Leave a Comment
26
Nov
International Jobs for PHP-Coders
admin


Category: coding, personal development  Leave a Comment
24
Nov
Some very old History of my Work
admin

Christian Albert Mueller - PHP Coder

Today I searched a bit in the Net to see whats still available from my early Work.

I came back till 1993. I was writing that I code since 1982.. sorry I did not found one piece of code from that Time to give you some proof. But if you are interested to go back a bit in Time

 

 

  • This Link keeps some the old FidoNet Adresses.
    http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit/ts940821.txt
    and you will find my first Mailbox “TelePoint BBS” mentioned in there. 
     
  • Also here: http://www.kochmix.de/rezept-philadelphia-torte-iii-7354-2.html
    Quit funny, one of my first Users wrote there an Article through my System and this Article is still available, I really like that :)
     
  • From my Coding Work you can find some Codes when you search for: 
    “(c) 1993 Christian Mueller” exactly like that in Google. In that Year I did quit a lot of Programming for the FidoNet (a search engine for example, that worked with AND – OR- XOR and was able to search Textfiles on and offline) also a Tool that did read the Content of a Archiv when it did had a so called FILE_ID.DIZ File. That was a small Textfile including a Description of the Archiv. 

What I still looking for are some Screenshots of my first Mailbox “Telepoint BBS” . Should u find a old Screenshot of that, let me know, would be great :)

Category: privat chris  Leave a Comment
24
Nov
Easy private Webcam Broadcasting
admin

When you ever tried to setup a Webcam and stream a live picture into the net you would have found yourself struggling with a lot of different tools that capture your webcam and transform it into a Life-stream.

I worked quit successful with the media encoder from Microsoft and later with a very simple tool http://www.sytexis.com/webcam_tracker_live.php . Also here I had the problem, that always my IP Address changed whenever my router went down or the DSL Connection flipped off. Ok, there are Tools like no-ip.com where you can make a fix URL for your dynamic IP and help you out of that situation.

Now it comes even more easy. First I found http://live.yahoo.com where you can simple connect with your Webcam and they offer that you implement a embedded Video on your Homepage and your Users can see your moving picture. The good thing also here, you don’t need a big bandwidth. When I was working with webcam tracker live and just 3 People where on my Cam, and remember the software was running on my computer, so this 3 Users took nearly my full bandwidth. Now when you stream to a server and the Users get your Video from there. You just need a small bandwidth to upload your Video there and don’t mind how many users view your Video.

Live.yahoo.com was fine, but I did not liked so much that I have to embed a big object into my homepage with there Logo and my webcam and also a Chatwindow. The whole thing was nearly double as big as my original streaming video.

Just yesterday I found  http://justin.tv and they offer also a very simple way to stream your Video with your Webcam to their server and you can embed your live-streaming Video into your Homepage that is not much bigger than the Video itself. Looks like a bit of Youtube.com video just with Live Streaming Pictures.

Sounds too good, also it is fine, I found that my Video still was not very stable and a little bit slow.

For anyone who just like to try it out. Go to http://www.justin.tv stream your Live-video there and embed a Player onto your Homepage. When this is not as good working as you like. Go to Sytexis (as mentioned in the Link above) and download the Live Webcam Tracker. Also than go to NO-IP.COM and make a Host Url for your dynamic IP.  If you need Help, feel free to contact me.

A Demo with the Live Webcam Tracker you find for example at http://www.ilovedahab.com  (look for the Live Stream Webcams)

Category: html  Leave a Comment
24
Nov
Where are the new Technologies?
admin

When I started with Computers it was around 1982. The 80286 from IBM was available and the C64 from Commodore changed the World. 1984 I went crazy with the Amiga 1000 and coded like hell. 1988 I worked with Windows 2.0 because I thought I need some Business Software and 1992 I found my Connection into the network World by connecting my Computer to the worldwide Fido Network. 1996 I faced the internet and around 2000 I had quit enough Experience to come a Senior in several Topics.

But whats next? Since the Internet established I also miss some really cool new Innovations. Yahoo was there, Google came, YouTube and Facebook, ok.. but I mean.. are I am the only one who does feel quit a bit bored about all that. Missing a real new challenge in the field of Computer and Networking.

I am not talking about new Languages like AJAX or Google GWT Books, what I am looking for is something really new, where not so many People talk about but could be the next Jump in Computing. Maybe you think coding for the IPhone or for Android will change the World, let me know and why do you think. I am daily reading about whats new in the Net and whats so called Trendy, finally I found for sure a lot of Inspirations but still missing this special Topic where everyone may talk about in 1-2 Years.

So my Question is, maybe I came old and blind, but what do you think is really a breakthrough technology in this days, that may change the world of coding and experiencing computers at all in a brand new way? Like from C64 To Amiga, or from Offline to ONline.. from Yahoo to Google?

I am really interested to hear from you. Why? Because I need some new Challenge :)

Category: geek news  Leave a Comment
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