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Determining when Daylight Saving Time starts in ends while programing

7/27/2008 03:12:00 PM

I recently ran into a situation where I was required to determine if a certain date was during DST or not. I looked around on Google for a bit trying to find anyone who has already done this, but most of the stuff I found did not work for me.

I ended up writing my own code, and thought I would share it for the world. It is amazingly simple, but caused me to think a bit before I got to it.

Keep in mind that I am not a computer science major, nor do I claim to be great at programming. If you have any suggestions on a more efficient way of determining this, please let me know.

//Kellen Butler

//July 27, 2008

//Find the day in which DST starts or ends.

//Code can be modified to find any situation where you are looking for a date for the "Second Tuesday of the month" situation.

//This code sample will work for DST End as well, it just needs to have its variables adjusted.

//Written for PHP

function dststart($year){
    //Daylight Savings Time starts on the second Sunday in March.
    //So $day = 0; for Sunday
    //$month = 3; for March
    //$week = 2; for the "second" (Sunday in March)
    $dayofweek = 0;
    $month = 3;
    $week = 2;

    //The following determines what day of week the ith day of the month is.
    //Once the first $dayofweek desired is found, the for loop will end.
    for($i=1, $dow=999; $dow != $dayofweek; $i++){
        $dow = date(w, mktime(0,0,0,$month,$i,$year));
        }

    $i--; //adjusts for extra increment not desired

    $date = ($i + 7*($week-1)); //$date is that day of month that DST starts in. For 2008 this would return 9
    return $date;
    }

1 comments

IBM Support v2

7/10/2008 08:38:00 AM

If you have already read the first part of this post, you can skip down to the section heading "Part 2".

Where it all started

For the last several months my laptop (a Lenovo tablet) has been giving me a weird issue with my screen. Depending on what position the screen was in, the screen would show some weird horizontal lines.

May 27th: Called to get my laptop screen fixed

May 28th: Received the box to send my machine to the depot, got the machine sent back out

May 30th: Machine Left the repair depot to come back to me

June 2nd and 3rd: Attempt to deliver my machine, but I was not home

June 4th: Got my machine back

When I first started up my laptop I noticed that the resolution was larger... or smaller depending on how you want to look at it. The text was larger while the resolution size was smaller numbers. I figured it was an easy enough fix. Once I got logged into the computer I was given a "Found new hardware message". I figured this was also an easy fix; except that the device was an unknown device and couldn't install any drivers. Moved on to fix the resolution and found that it was already at his max.

At this point I started to feel like IBM's service was lacking. I also noticed in the midst of everything, that my indication lights (power, battery, caps...) weren't all working. I decided it was about time to give IBM a call. When I went to go look for the number to call, I also found that they had replaced my keyboard. I have never been told why, but I am assuming it had been broken.

June 5th: I got my box and sent it back in

June 11th: I called to check on the status of my repair. I was told they were waiting on some parts to come in so that they could repair it; however, they did not have an estimated time on when they would receive those dates. The recommended I call back the next day to see if the numbers had been updated.

June 12th: Called to check the status. I was pretty much told the same thing about no ETA and to check back the next day.

June 13th: Same deal. This time I complained just a bit. I was put on hold and was told he was going to talk with the escalation department. After a little while Larry came back and told me they had worked it out such that my machine would be repaired to me over the weekend and I would have it on Monday. I was somewhat skeptical about this as that would require same day shipping, but there was nothing I could complain about.

June 16th: No laptop. Called, I was told by this rep that the previous rep must have been mistaken in reading the notes wrong because there was no way for that to happen. I asked if I could receive a loner machine as I was coming up on 3 weeks without a machine. I was told IBM does not send out loner machines; however, I could call the escalation department directly and see if I could get anything worked out. After calling the number he gave me, I was confronted with a lady who seemed confused as to why I had been redirected to her. She gave me no new information.

June 18th: Called in the morning. This lady put me on hold for at least 5 to 10 minutes. When she came back she told me there was a possibility of them sending me my machine and then getting it repaired once the item came in. However, she was unclear as to what item it was they were waiting on and it would require contact with the members on the floor (presumably the techs). She said she would give me a call back with more information. After requesting a time in which she would get back to me, she told me 4pm today. After I got back from work around 5:30 I decided I would give them a call to see what was up. The guy I talked with said he didn't think the previous person was being straight with me about them being able to send the machine out to me without it being fixed. Either way, he said he could file a complaint with the escalation department on my behalf. He noted that I would be requesting a new laptop sent to me. This is after he told me that IBM does not have the ability to give me a refurbished or a new laptop. After asking why he said because this was a repair. Lots of back and forth with that one, but I was getting nowhere. I also asked for the number of the escalation department. I was told that I would call the number I called him at and they can direct me. So what exactly was that other number I was given by someone else?

At any rate, he told me it would take 24 to 48 hours for my complaint to be processed.

Part 2

June 20^th: No Call… After I called them I was told my machine would be repaired over the weekend and sent out on Monday. This sounds familiar, but whatever.

June 24^th: I received my laptop, except still broken, same issues as before. IBM decided to make a request to Lenovo for an onsite repair.

June 26^th: Tech was supposed to be onsite, but unable to work in the 1500 to 1700 (3:00pm – 5:00pm) time frame that I had to work under.

June 27^th: Tech onsite from 1300 to 1700. That is 1pm to 5pm for you people who don’t understand 24 hour time. About 4:30 he determined he must have damaged something on the machine because the system had become worse than before.

After some calls with IBM support, what they call a Hot Call was created for me. Not entirely sure what that meant, but I was instructed that a specialized tech would be onsite Monday.

June 30^th: No tech Onsite. After talking with Mike, my case supervisor with IBM, I was informed that another request had to be made to Lenovo in order to get another tech onsite. This took an extra day. I won’t go into the complaints I made here.

July 1^st: I received no call to verify any ETA of my tech. After leaving a message with Mike, my case supervisor, I received calls back from both Mike and Billy (my new tech) telling me that an incorrect part had been delivered and they would be unable to repair my machine. Placed a call back to Mike to follow up, but have not heard back as of yet.

July 2^nd: Tech onsite for 3 hours, replaced the motherboard, lcd screen, lcd cable, micro sensor, and inverter. The machine still did not work. I am led to believe the motherboard was bad, but the tech attempts to use the old motherboard on the new items causing it to kill the new items. The case became escalated once again with the request for a new laptop.

After the tech left, I also found that the hinge had been broken, a few screws were missing, and many screws were striped.

July 3^rd: Left a message for Jeffery, my new case manager, asking to call me back and get me some information.

July 7^th: I received a call from the tech who had been out on Friday asking to setup a time for him to come repair my laptop. Hmmm, something got lost in translation. Gave a call to IBM who left a note for my case manager to give me a call back ASAP.

Received a Call from Tom, my old case manager who was on vacation a week. He was submitting the request for a new laptop and should hear back in 24-48 hours.

July 8^th: Told I would be receiving a new laptop with equal or greater specs in 1-3 weeks. Finally! Now I just have to wait :-(.

Laptop photo used under Creative Commons, photo by SNAFU.mv.

0 comments

IBM Support

6/18/2008 07:18:00 PM

Where it all started

Not really the easiest thing to read while in class trying to take notes.

Case 1

May 27th: Called to get my laptop screen fixed

May 28th: Received the box to send my machine to the the depot, got the machine sent back out

May 30th: Machine Left the repair depot to come back to me

June 2nd and 3rd: Attempt to deliver my machine, but I was not home

June 4th: Got my machine back

I am very impressed with IBM support at this point in time. Very fast repair, all shipping was overnight Very minimal down time for me.

Case 2

After talking to an IBM rep, they said they would send me out another box to send my machine back in with. Also I was told that my machine was being marked as an escalated case and my machine would be well taken care of. I think IBM should raise their standard of their lower level techs. It might cost them some in salary, but it saves them in shipping and a higher level tech from having to fix it a second time.

Back to the timeline:

June 5th: I got my box and sent it back in

(after such a great return time on the last laptop, I was expecting a fast return on it)

June 11th: I called to check on the status of my repair. I was told they were waiting on some parts to come in so that they could repair it; however, they did not have an estimated time on when they would receive those dates. The recommended I call back the next day to see if the numbers had been updated.

June 12th: Called to check the status. I was pretty much told the same thing about no ETA and to check back the next day.

June 13th: Same deal. This time I complained just a bit. I was put on hold and was told he was going to talk with the escalation department. After a little while he came back and told me they had worked it out such that my machine would be repaired to me over the weekend and I would have it on Monday. I was some what skeptical about this as that would require same day shipping, but there was nothing I could complain about.

June 16th: No laptop. Called, I was told by this rep that the previous rep must have been mistaken in reading the notes wrong because there was no way for that to happen. I asked if I could receive a loner machine as I was coming up on 3 weeks with out a machine. I was told IBM does not send out loner machines; however, I could call the escalation department directly and see if I could get anything worked out. After calling the number he gave me, I was confronted with a lady who seemed confused as to why I had been redirected to her. She gave me no new information

June 17th: I took a day off from them :-)

June 18th: 3 weeks ago I sent in my laptop. Called in the morning. This lady put me on hold for at least 5 minutes if not 10. When she came back she told me their was a possibility of them sending me my machine and then getting it repaired once the item came in. However, she was unclear as to what item it was they were waiting on and it would require contact with the members on the floor (presumably the techs). She said she would give me a call back with more information. After requesting a time in which she would get back to me, she told me 4pm today. After I got back from work around 5:30 I decided I would give them a call to see what was up. The guy I talked with said he didn't think the previous person was being straight with me about them being able to send the machine out to me with out it being fixed. Either way, he said he could file a complaint with the escalation department on my behalf. He noted that I would be requesting a new laptop sent to me. This is after he told me that IBM does not have the ability to give me a refurbished or a new laptop. After asking why he said because this was a repair. Lots of back and forth with that one, but I was getting no where. I also asked for the number of the escalation department. I was told that I would call the number I called him at and they can direct me. So what exactly was that other number I was given by someone else?

At any rate, he told me it would take 24 to 48 hours for my complaint to be processed by this mystical escalation department. In this time they will call me to follow up on it. I guess I will just have to wait any see, but nothing I have seen yet leads me to believe I will be hearing from them. You better expect that Friday afternoon if I haven't heard anything from them, I will be giving them a call.

Where did they go wrong?

I don't want to call them lies, but rather "mistaken words"... lets just count them.

1 comments

WOW

4/27/2008 07:59:00 PM

It was almost 2 months in there with no blog posts. If you want to find out what has been keeping me busy, check out the pictures at http://flickr.com/photos/kellenjb