ต้องการทราบว่าเป็นวันอะไร จาก อาทิตย์ถึงจันทร์ ต้องเขียนเช็คยังไงค่ะ

$date = "16/8/2012"
$ex = explode("/",$date);
if($ex[1] == "01"){
	$month = "January";
}else if($ex[1] == "02"){
	$month = "February";
}else if($ex[1] == "03"){
	$month = "March";
}else if($ex[1] == "04"){
	$month = "April";
}else if($ex[1] == "05"){
	$month = "May";
}else if($ex[1] == "06"){
	$month = "June";
}else if($ex[1] == "07"){
	$month = "July";
}else if($ex[1] == "08"){
	$month = "August";
}else if($ex[1] == "09"){
	$month = "September";
}else if($ex[1] == "10"){
	$month = "October";
}else if($ex[1] == "11"){
	$month = "November";
}else if($ex[1] == "12"){
	$month = "December";
}
$day = date("D",strtotime("$ex[0] $month $ex[2]"));//ตรวจสอบว่าวันนี้เป็นวันอะไร

echo date('l', strtotime("2012-08-17"));