From the simple, self-taught beginnings of a using the outputs from a PC to drive stepper motors and receive positional feedback through the LPT (what a printer does in 2 dimensions) even an early-90′s hack was able to control three gear-motor drivers to within .001″ by translating an image into G code and then doing little more but sitting back.

We all know that .001 inch isn’t “all that” in the machine industry. The three motors were intended for a gantry table for cutting and welding, but unfortunately, the machine side of that project was never completed due to our unplanned transition to Colorado life almost 8 years ago; but it’s no accident that we’re in the perfect environment to employ that same capacity in our current vocation on a much larger scale.

It’s easily conceivable that certain triggers can be placed into a digital process for specific equipment, taking multiple – seemingly simultaneous – corrective actions quicker than any human individual could process & then physically react. It has become a common practice, whether in aerospace, aviation, your automobile, or processing plants.

I was talking with someone the other day and a statement was made to the effect of,

Whatever the process, computers don’t care what they’re controlling.

That couldn’t be more true. Sending little packets of one’s and zero’s from this server for your computer’s browser to interpret into ciphers and images is the same to a computer as sending them to a valve controller or conveyor belt servo-motor. The end result is different, but the process isn’t.

All that being said, I still enjoy hammering out the code necessary to do these pages. If you don’t already know, this entire site is a database backed – not static html. Your browser interprets what it retrieves and you get the html markup, but it’s all retrieved on my end from a series of databases.

On my end for example, the beginning of this page looks like:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id=”content_box”>

<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/l_sidebar.php’); ?>

<div id=”content”>

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

and so on. I don’t see the actual layout unless I want to. Even without knowing PHP, you can pretty-much interpret it by reading through it. It’s easier than French, “Laissez le bon temps rouler!”

<?php get_header(); ?>
Get the Page Header

<div id=”content_box”>
Everything in the following division of the page should use the criteria listed under the “content box” I.D. section of my separate (and unseen by you) style sheet.

<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/l_sidebar.php’); ?>
Then include the left sidebar using the selected template (or “theme”).

<div id=”content”>
Now use the “Content” section of the style sheet for anything from font size and color, to image alignment, etc.

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
“IF” there’s a post, do the following – later on there’s an “Else” in case “If” criteria is not met. Since we obviously “have posts”, we continue through in this loop with:

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
While we have posts: Post them!

and so on down the page to the “get footer” php statement. All in milliseconds from me to wherever you are… and the server doesn’t know or care what we do with it and whether someone else sees the back end or not, its there. It’s the foundation and like anything else, should be done to the best of ones ability whether anyone is looking or not. Poorly written code wastes resources in the same way as does you’re inefficient hot-water heater or poorly tuned automobile.

For the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse.
~Samuel Richardson

Regarding the Template/Theme:

The “header” will come from whatever “template” is being used and can be changed accordingly, but the “content” will remain the same throughout. I had taken the Theme Switcher out for a while because it was causing some issues with other aspects I’d been working on.

If the layout I’ve been using in the interim has been acting funky with your particular browser or you just like one of the previous ones better, you’ll find that you can again choose one that might suit you better in the sidebar.

Thanks for visiting.

Tags: Web

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