Plan Zero Blog

I’d had Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card on my list of books to read for a while, but a friend of mine persuaded me to bump it up to the top. And I’m glad she did, for it is, as she described it, “like crack on paper”.

The book follows the path of a child, Ender, as he is carefully (and somewhat…

The following luhn_check() function is a small JavaScript function which checks whether a number is a valid based on the Luhn algoritm. One common example of use is with credit and debit card numbers. This function may be used to check for valid credit card numbers, however additional checks may be desired, such as card prefix and length checks.

There’s a…

The following luhn_check() function is a small PHP function which checks whether a number is a valid based on the Luhn algorithm. One common example of use is with credit and debit card numbers. This function may be used to check for valid credit card numbers, however additional checks may be desired, such as card prefix and length checks.

<?php
/* Luhn…

Back in 2006 I wrote an article on the vi text editor. While I’m in the process of rearranging my site, the time seems right to republish the article. Read and enjoy!

The history of vi

The vi text editor originated at the University of California in Berkeley. Created by Bill Joy in 1976 as a replacement for the frustrating ed line…

Nasa played some launch footage from the latest shuttle – sent to repair Hubble – on Nasa TV today while the crew have a day off before they return to Earth. Call me a geek, but watching the footage taken from the solid rocket boosters is quite fun.

Another blurry UFO picture? No, the other solid rocket booster.

The sounds are rather strange, too:

The tank…

Recently, Phorm started operation.

Large websites were urged to opt out, and the wave has started. Amazon.co.uk, for example, have told Phorm that they may not use data from their website. The Open Rights Group have welcomed the decision of such companies.

In the comments on the Open Rights Group announcement, there were calls to create a logo for websites owners to display to show…

Every now and again I have a hunt around the internet for good, free music. At the end of last year I came across a full album – Space Crackers by Clawjob. The album languished on my hard drive until this week, when I started catching up on my backlog of music-that-could-be-good-but-probably-isn’t-worth-keeping.

I stuck Space Crackers on and was blown away…

Well, I said that I’d be using this blog to publish code, so here’s my latest little project.

BBEditor is a free BBCode editor written in JavaScript for HTML/PHP. It’s standards compliant, and really is rather sexy.

Features:

• Easy to integrate
• Cross-browser compliant
• Degrades wonderfully in old or non-compliant browsers
• Sleek code – fast loading, no bulk, no mess
• Easy to style to your needs
• Adding additional buttons and…

Well, I finally got around to setting up a blog. It’s been a long time coming. I’m not sure how this is going to turn out, but I do know how it will start.

I’m going to be making some structure and style changes to Planzero.org in the near future, so just to get things up and running I’m using a…