learning exercise...

[AV1611]

I don't understand the result this gives:
[code]
<?php
function now()
{
$row=gettimeofday();
echo $row['usec'];
}
$start=now();
echo "<br/><br/>";
$stop=now();
echo "<br/><br/>";
$total=$stop-$start;
echo "<br/><br/>";
echo "total: ".$total;
?>
[/code]

Here is the result:
[code]
428225
428275

total: 0
[/code]
Shouldn't total be like 50 ???

[kenrbnsn]

You're not returning a value from the function, you're just echoing it.

Try:
[code]<?php
function now()
{
    $row=gettimeofday();
    return($row['usec']);
}
?>[/code]

Ken

[paul2463]

I have figured it out I think..I am a noobie and decided to try and answer this one from a "lack of knowledge" perspective

the function:-

function now()
{
$row=gettimeofday();
echo $row['usec'];
}

does not actually return a value that can be assigned to $start and $stop, all it is asked to do is to write out the value of 'usec'

function now()
{
$row=gettimeofday();
echo $row['usec'];
return $row['usec'];
}

makes it work fine

laugh at me all you like, I am new and am trying my best.......

Paul

[AV1611]

Hmmm... I think I just found something new to learn about...

I've never used "return"

Self taught people miss stuff like that sometimes...

Thanks, all...

[wildteen88]

Surely you would of read something up about return when you learnt how to create functions?

[AV1611]

as I stated earlier wildteen, this was my very first lesson, but I couldn't get any traction from what php.net had on their site... I had never used "return" before, so didnt' know of it's existance...

// I learn out of necessity - I have written many full blown applications that work very good... But, I'm sure if someone with a better PHP education were to look at my code, they would call it very bulky, repetitious and bloated... But, it does work, and it works very well...

I am now trying to figure out how to be more EFFICIENT... and someone pointed out to me that I need to learn is how to do functions, as NONE of my programs have them, which would explain why my code is bulky, repetitous, and bloated...

I added this to give you context as to what seemed like a dumb question on the outside, but really wasn't dumb at all...

[kenrbnsn]

Which area in php.net did you look at. The [a href=\"http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.functions.php\" target=\"_blank\"]section on Functions[/a] has a very clearly section on [a href=\"http://www.php.net/manual/en/functions.returning-values.php\" target=\"_blank\"]returning values[/a].

Also, if you have programmed in any other language, most have some sort of mechanism for returning values from a called routine back to the calling routine.

Ken

[AV1611]

A. Thanks, I guess I missed it...

B. I have no other programming language experience.


[!--quoteo(post=385976:date=Jun 20 2006, 07:54 AM:name=kenrbnsn)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(kenrbnsn @ Jun 20 2006, 07:54 AM) [snapback]385976[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Which area in php.net did you look at. The [a href=\"http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.functions.php\" target=\"_blank\"]section on Functions[/a] has a very clearly section on [a href=\"http://www.php.net/manual/en/functions.returning-values.php\" target=\"_blank\"]returning values[/a].

Also, if you have programmed in any other language, most have some sort of mechanism for returning values from a called routine back to the calling routine.

Ken
[/quote]