Ben Centra

The HTML5 canvas element has been around for a while now, and it’s great for lots of things: drawing, games, user input, and more. It’s also fairly easy to use, and its API is similar to other drawing APIs out there. What’s not so easy is getting the canvas to...

RIT is a career-oriented school, and the New Media program is project-based. Between those things and the “learn by doing” attitude of Computer Science House, I did plenty of projects throughout my four years of college. Over 50 projects, actually - websites, games, and more - spanning over 20 different...

Back in 2009, the landscapes of Pandora in James Cameron’s Avatar looked an awful lot like the paintings of Yes album artist Roger Dean. Dean tried to sue but his case was dismissed, legally ruling the similarity a coincidence. Here in 2014, there’s another similarity between film and classic rock:...

Database operations are required in just about any project of mine. So, I wrote up a simple PHP class that performs all your basic CRUD operations using PDO and MySQL prepared statements. Using it reduces my setup time, provices basic application security, and makes development a breeze. The constructor of...

I went to college, and then I got a job. If only it was that simple! RIT does a great job preparing its students for the job search, but some things are left to be learned through experience. After obtaining two co-ops and a full time job, I’ve learned a...