PHP Quiz

[seanf]

Let's have a question from someone ...

Sean

[samsm]

Alright!

Write a php script which (assuming no timeout) would take over one year to complete.

Rule:
You can't use a loop that will obviously always evaluate true. Example:

 while(1) { doSomething(); } //no good 

[anode]

Assuming no timeout

sleep(5616000);
echo 'Done'; 

or am I missing something?

[samsm]

I'll accept that!

I was thinking of something along these lines:

$source = 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa';
preg_match('/a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*a*[b]/', $source);
// excution time = septillions of years 

... but I purposefully wasn't clear.

Your question, anode!

[anode]

OK,

Describe a methodology(no code required, psudocode perhaps to illustrate a point) to program a Chess client in PHP. Difficulty levels are not required; the program is allowed to play to the best of its ability at all times.

[Egghead]

OK,

Describe a methodology(no code required, psudocode perhaps to illustrate a point) to program a Chess client in PHP. Difficulty levels are not required; the program is allowed to play to the best of its ability at all times.

Crikey Anode that sounds just like a school project you may have been set! Are you being sneaky and trying to get people to do your homework?

[anode]

I haven't been in an academic environment in about 5 years

[samsm]

Crikey Anode...

I'm going to have to second that"crikey"!

Does this chess application need to be able to have strategy or does it just need to be able to follow the rules of chess?

[anode]

Should have probably been clearer on that. Yes it does, that's why I mentioned that it should play to the best of its ability(I'm under the impression most chess clients work "subtractively" as far as difficulty levels, to borrow a sound synthesis term.)

[samsm]

I had a feeling you meant that.

There's a relatively concise answer for this?

I ask because this seems kind of like something where I could think about it for eight hours and make some progress then walk to the bookstore and find that I have thought my way halfway through chapter one of a chess book, and there are 16 chapters, and each is twice as difficult as the last.

[anode]

Well, I guess if you were planning on building a production version

I meant maybe 50-100 words, maybe with a diagram (if I were answering, I'd do a diagram ) describing the high-level design of the system.

If you guys think it's too hard wussies, I can give the floor back up.

[cyngon]

Heh, maybe I'm a wuss, but there is a minor nitpick in the fact that if a pseudo class and a diagram are all that is necissary then the question is entirely language independent.

Edit: Evil evil typo-creating computer monkeys!!!

[samsm]

Maybe the real challenge is to figure out how this could be related to PHP specifically. ;-)

(cyngon: I lease my keyboard from those same monkeys)

[seanf]

This is a hell of a question! Wasn't one of the PHP quizzes (can't think of the site, but you get good prizes) similar to this?

Sean

[samsm]

codewalkers php contests

[seanf]

That's the site I was thinking of, but I must have seen the chess question somewhere else

Sean

[anode]

Heh, maybe I'm a wuss, but there is a minor nitpick in the fact that if a pseudo class and a diagram are all that is necissary then the question is entirely language independent.

Edit: Evil evil typo-creating computer monkeys!!!

This is kind of true and kind of not true. The basic ideas and algorithms would be the same, yet the implemenation would obviously have to be different as most chess programs run locally or as a Java app.

[Mike]

codewalkers php contests

Very nice prizes for those!

[Anagram]

echo's the remote ip address of the user accessing the script, unless it is the isp, in which case, usually, HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR is set.

Heheh..you're absolutely correct.

[Technosailor]

Ok, time to revive the thread. I have a non-PHP question but something most of you know a little about.

Apache web server derived its name from:

a) A multi-talented and faceted Native American tribe.
b) lots of patches making it "a patchy server"
c) A development codename that never was changed on stable release
d) Apache is actually an Anglofied german word.

[seanf]

B - at first it was literately 'a patchy server'

Sean

[Technosailor]

Knew I shoukdn't have made it multiple choice.

[seanf]

Without looking, what is the latest version of PHP, not including release candidates?

Sean

[anode]

4.3.2 released this morning.

[Technosailor]

Was gonna say, but anode beat me.