jhiant's comments

NAME

  swizel - takes csv input, selects columns and arbitrarily selects output order

OPTIONS

  change the field delimiter (default comma)

  handle trimming whitespace per field (or an arbitrary set of chars, e.g. quotes)

  ignore or transform a prefixed one-line header or comment (default #)

  [bonus points] handle numeric fields (e.g. precision or float/int conversion)

OBLIGATORY

  while all of this can already be done with a combination of cut, sed, tr and/or awk, it's a common task when working with columnar data and could be made more intuitive and less error prone. transforming columnar data mostly boils down to clean up and basic sanity checks. good karma on this one.

InCalories < OutCalories = Weight--

Weight management and fitness is not a difficult problem, but that doesn't mean it's easy. When we think of people who are fit, the stereotypical person we picture isn't usually a math genius. If it were HARD to figure these things out, we wouldn't have that stereotype.

IMHO, the order of effectiveness is: Sleep > Hydration > Diet > Workouts > ... many other things ... > Oxygen Tank

1. Spend an hour or two today learning about how to calculate macros and figure out your TDEE (google it.) 2. Spend an hour or two each week learning how to cook something new. 3. And spend a couple hours each week being active (just walking is enough to start.)

None of this is "exciting" or an "adventure" but it works. The "hard part" is mental. It's about continuing when it's no longer fun or interesting any more. Or making it fun by doing things you love. Look at surfers for example.

One way people get through that step is external motivation. Asking HN is a great first step. Join a team. Hire a coach. Sign up for a competition. Others will welcome you because many of them have been where you are now.

"The C Puzzle Book" by Alan R. Feuer

For anything C/C++ related, grinding these little puzzles yielded tremendous value for the time spent and removed any lingering questions I had about annoying low level details of the languages for the rest of my career. There are a lot of heady academic books that consume a lot of time, but this one impacts the 80% of time you actually spend at the keyboard.

Stroustroup's "The C++ Programming Language" is eloquently written and surprisingly accessible to beginning/intermediate developers.