Resolutions for programmers (2012) • Hacker News Board

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#151

Post by ryanmonroe » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:26 PM UTC

mysterypie wrote: post #103

richmt wrote: post #48

On the health note, the single most beneficial thing I did for myself this year was to start lifting. 6 months ago I started committing 3 days a week to a strength training program which I've strictly followed since. Making gains in the gym has motivated me to sleep better and eat better which both have had huge effects on every aspect of my life. Not only that, but the exercise has helped a ton with anxiety I've had…

> I urge everyone here to take up lifting Everyone I've spoken to got into lifting because they think it gets girls. They won't admit it directly or perhaps realize it themselves, but a series of questions leads to women: Of all types of exercise, why weights? -> So then why do you need to be toned? -> OK, then why do you need to look good in a T-shirt, or at bars, or in your profile pic? -> Because women like it. Pr…

Think of the men that women tend to lust after on a large scale e.g. celebrities. How many of those men are more muscular than the average male? How many are much more muscular? Take a look at the all-time top scoring pics on the "ladyboners" subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/LadyBoners/top/ Of those men whose body is showing in the picture, how many have muscles significantly more developed than the average male? 75%? 85%? I'm not particularly "built" myself, but I think it's extremely misguided to suggest women don't, on average, prefer muscular men (all other traits being equal). Obviously you don't have to be muscular to attract women, there are very few desirable qualities which are actually necessary to attract a partner. That doesn't mean it doesn't help, all else equal.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#152

Post by presidentender » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:26 PM UTC

richmt wrote: post #122

slaunchwise wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're new to weightlifting, this is a simple, effective entry point: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ You use 5 compound exercises and work out 3 times per week. Recommendation is to start as light as possible.

I see stronglifts 5x5 recommended a lot on sites like reddit and generally disagree that beginners should start out with it. From what I've read online, the 5x5 structure often leads to quicker stalling in progression for some than doing 3x5 like starting strength has you do for squat, overhead, and bench. Also, some people really don't need to start as light as SL will have you starting on. Anecdotally, a friend of…

SL 5x5 recommends a perfectly sane method to deal with stalling - deload, work back up to the stall weight, and repeat until deloading no longer breaks the plateau, and then move to a 5x3 rep scheme like Starting Strength, and then (after another plateau) to 3x3.

Starting with greater volume gives the beginner more time to work on form.

Furthermore, if a lifter already has some training, it can absolutely make sense to increase the weight from the recommended start with the empty bar. Do 5x5, and if you have any left in the tank, add reps to the last set. If you get a set of 10, then increase the weight by 10 lbs on the next workout instead of 5. If you try to estimate an effective working weight, you're apt to overestimate, and end up plateauing too early.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#153

Post by javabr » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:27 PM UTC

That is all I needed: More resolutions to skip!

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#154

Post by tlikonen » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:28 PM UTC

steinsgate wrote: post #144

Anilm3 wrote: post #39

Very interesting article! I like the fact that you mentioned Prolog as one of the less mainstream languages to learn. During my time at uni I found that both Haskell and Prolog really changed the way I approached different problems and gave me a high level perspective to problem solving. Some interesting resources to learn Prolog: # http://www.swi-prolog.org/ # http://people.cs.kuleuven.be/~bart.demoen/PrologProgramm…

I did some Prolog programming too for fun, and boy! it requires a complete paradigm shift in thinking! For those unfamiliar with Prolog, Prolog is very different from procedural programing languages. In procedural languages like C and Python, we assign values to variables and ask the computer to do operations on them. In logical programming langauges like Prolog and LISP, we tell the computer truth values of a list o…

(Common) Lisp is a multi-paradign language. It doesn't have any specific logic programming features, no more than any other generic language. Some lisps tend to lean towards functional paradigm. EDIT: OK, maybe Lisps' symbol type helps a bit on logic or AI but there's no built-in resolution algorithm like in Prolog.

But Prolog is really something different. I only know some basic ideas but definitely want to dig deeper in the future.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#155

Post by kbutler » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:28 PM UTC

mysterypie wrote: post #118

mordocai wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifting is actually very efficient and having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks. I think you are just hanging out with the wrong people if all (or even most) of the people you know who lift are doing it for "girls"

> having more muscle can help for lots of everyday tasks When I've discussed the motivation with weight-lifting friends, they bring up that very point. Then I ask them to give an example of something they did with their strength today or in the last month, that I couldn't have done just as easily (I'm average strength). After long thought they come up contrived examples like, I had to lift my motorbike to change a ti…

Last month I went on a technical canyoneering & rappelling trip through slot canyons in Zion National Park with a bunch of teenagers.

Last week I was moving 150lb barrels of chicken feed.

This month, shoveling snow for myself and multiple elderly neighbors.

Mid-forties, desk job. Weight lifting helped.

The daughter piggyback example is interesting - my initial experience with back pain came when playing with my toddler daughter several years ago. "Threw out my back". Yes, strength helps with everyday tasks.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#156

Post by FLUX-YOU » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:28 PM UTC

eggman wrote: post #36

dpweb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Build a standing desk.. Two resolutions - a hobby (learn carpentry) and health benefits!

high stakes carpentry - build a desk and put expensive devices on it.

Bah, can't be any worse than the particle board crap at most places.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#157

Post by branchless » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:30 PM UTC

mysterypie wrote: post #121

branchless wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are the women you say are beautiful "beautiful"? Because they are physically fit and have good child-bearing markers. We are hard-wired for this. That said I utterly agree with the other poster's assessment of the benefits of exercise - less stress, better sleep.

> [beautiful women] are physically fit Being muscular is neither a necessary or sufficient condition for being physically fit. And in fact most beautiful women are beautiful despite not lifting weights, so why should lifting weights be a factor in the attractiveness of men. (I will grant that some women do want muscular men, but I don't think it's that big a factor for most women.) > benefits of exercise - less stres…

Nobody said "muscular". They are physically fit.

This discussion is just silly. Most men don't like fat women and most women don't like fat men because they will get caught by predators / can't catch food. Like most men you trotted out the "beauty" bit because men never see the asymmetry in women not seeing fat men "for who they truly are" whilst wanting the babe themselves.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#158

Post by cp9 » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:30 PM UTC

prolepunk wrote: post #104

khgvljhkb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How wonderful would the world be if we had a base 10 clock instead of 24? Let's make a day be 86400 seconds (already a SI standard), and then you can divide that into tenths, hundreds or whatever. One thousand of a day is 84.4 seconds, which is close to a minute (which is (/ 60 (/ 24 one-day))). We have metric for measurements in space, but something as simple for day-to-day time measurement would be nice.

^ Typical HN comment. I'm sorry I'm making fun of you, but I just can't help myself as this happens all the time -- somebody comes up with a reasonable idea, and then the next commenter takes it so widely out of proportion, willing to re-engineer the whole society just to marginally improve his own comfort.

not to mention this is a 200 year old idea that was a terrible idea then and hasn't gotten any better since

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#159

Post by TeMPOraL » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:31 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #92

cabinpark wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was very lucky, growing up, to be the son of a sports medicine doctor because, from birth, healthy eating and exercise and their benefits were grilled into my brain. Unfortunately I see too many people in my job (academia) who don't exercise despite the huge potential benefits to their productivity and life. So this makes me wonder: what is it about exercise that turns people off? Is it a communication issue? Is it…

A lot of people are turned off exercise by the school environment where it's mandatory, unpleasant, competitive in a bad way and unrewarding.

Speaking as a case in point. PE lessons were my nightmare. My fitness was always below class average, and never had an interest in competitive sports - I always found exercise tiring, boring, and something you are forced to do. School cemented that attitude.

The lessons could have been better. For instance, starting with making one run as fast and as far as you can (and repeating that every few months) meant only that I wanted to puke my guts out. If we were following a running program of increasing difficulty instead, I might have noticed my stamina increasing and maybe would have liked it. Though our teachers probably assumed that we're doing sports after school anyway, and not e.g. sitting at home learning how to write video games.

I'm older now and I see it's about feedback. If something makes you feel miserable, then without strong sense of purpose about it (encouraging it is something school universally sucks at) you're likely to avoid it and hate it even more. OTOH, if you started your PE lessons relatively fit, they were probably pleasant for you and thus the feedback loop worked in your favour.

Re: Resolutions for programmers (2012)

#160

Post by artmageddon » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 5:35 PM UTC

alfapla wrote: post #150

richmt wrote: post #48

On the health note, the single most beneficial thing I did for myself this year was to start lifting. 6 months ago I started committing 3 days a week to a strength training program which I've strictly followed since. Making gains in the gym has motivated me to sleep better and eat better which both have had huge effects on every aspect of my life. Not only that, but the exercise has helped a ton with anxiety I've had…

Don't want to be the negative guy, but sometimes I wonder why people would spend their physical energy on gym equipment while you may just as well learn a construction skill that leaves a tangible result and has some use in the real world - like bricklaying, plastering walls or wiring electricity. Just my 2 cents, if you enjoy your gym all the better for you. But I also think that many people give up because they fin…

> bricklaying, plastering walls or wiring electricity.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that a gym is much more accessible than construction projects.