Simple time function

art6

Hi,

I'm just getting started with php and wrote a simple function that uses timestamps to find the angle formed by the hour, minute and second hands on a traditional clock. I was hoping someone could look it over and see if i'm writing it corrently. The function works as expected, I just wanted to see if there was a better or more efficient way of writing it. Also, is it possible to use a function (ie: time()) as the default value of a function parameter, I tried but couldn't get it to work.

Thanks!

// Function timeangle
// This function takes a UNIX timestamp and finds the angle 
// of the hour, minute and second hands on a clock.
// 
// Returns an associative array with h, m, s pointing to each of the found angles

function timeangle($time) 
{

// if time is left empty use current time
$time = (!$time) ? time() : $time; 

// create an array with values for hour, minutes and seconds and convert
// each to seconds
$time = array("h" => ((date("g", $time)) * 60 * 60), 
              "m" => ((date("i", $time)) * 60) , 
              "s" => date("s", $time));

// convert each value to an angle
$time["h"] = (($time['h'] + $time['m'] + $time['s']) * 360) / 43200;
$time["m"] = (($time['m'] + $time['s']) * 360) / 3600;
$time["s"] = ($time['s'] * 360) / 60;


// Return array
return $time;


}

bradgrafelman

art6 wrote:
Also, is it possible to use a function (ie: time()) as the default value of a function parameter, I tried but couldn't get it to work.

I believe the default value for variables in a function declaration must be strings, not the output of another function. You pretty much have the gist of assigning a default value in this manner, though; I would only make two changes:

function timeangle($time=FALSE) 
{ 

// if time is left empty use current time 
$time = ($time === FALSE) ? time() : $time;

kilo_dB

If you make the names of the input and output variables different, then you can be more efficient:

//convert to angles
$angle['s'] = 6 * date('s', $time); //360/60 = 6
$angle['m'] = (angle['s']/360) + (6 * date('i', $time));
$angle['h'] = (angle['m']/360) + (30 * date("g", $time));

then return $angle, of course!