Setting up a basic Cron Job on a server

One of the most common and useful jobs one may come across when working with any kind of long term project involving basic systems administration is to set up scheduled tasks to be executed automatically at a planned time. This can be achieved by using Cron, a time-based task scheduler…

PHP late static binding

Being PHP an interpreted language, we don't need to compile our programs ourselves. However, that doesn't mean it is never complied. The PHP interpreter compiles and runs it for us so there is still these two phases: compile time and run time. Static properties get their values on run time.…

AJAX and JSON

IntroductionAjax (AJAX) stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML request. It is a set of techniques using on the client side to create asynchronous requests to the server. With Ajax, web applications can send and retrieve data from a server without interfering with the display and behaviour of the existing page.…

Responsive design

When I started applying for web development roles, I was asked in an interview about responsive design. I didn't know the answer so the interviewer explained to me what it was. His explanation wasn't really very good. He picked up his phone and said, 'it is a development technique that…

Discovering Git

I studied a general Computer Science degree which focused mainly on Software. During my studies I had to do a number of individual as well as group assignments. I remember a particular one on web software development —which happens to be my current area of work. We had to develop…