tape_measure

As a mechanical engineer, I want to convert tables in pdf to Excel. Basically import a .pdf and export a .xlsx with a sheet for each table in the document.

I would start with Arduino. It's the most common platform for this type of thing. There are plenty of online resources. Adafruit is a good combined resource and store. At minimum, you'll need:

The lights: maybe this is a good start https://www.adafruit.com/product/1461

An Arduino: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3345

A wifi or ethernet shield (a shield stacks on the Arduino board and add a function): https://www.adafruit.com/product/2971

A power supply: https://www.adafruit.com/product/658

You may also want a soldering iron and a nice case if this is a permanent project.

You could start with a raspberry pi, which will have a lower investment, but the Arduino's simplicity is great for learning.

TI calculators, a mechanical pencil with a good eraser, and a notebook. It really let's me focus on the engineering and not the tools.

Yes, I originally came across this on HN, likely in 2017 based on my surrounding bookmarks. It has stuck with me ever since even though I don't do much programming anymore. At the time, I was a TA in a MATLAB course, so I tried to emphasize that the code runs on a machine and is fundamentally discrete. (.1 + .2 == .3) returning false is an easy way into this concept.

32 bits (and now 64 as @dragontamer calculated) is a huge input space. You could verify 4 int_8 or 2 char[2] functions.

Something interesting to note is that hardening steel does not significantly change the stiffness of the material. A spring or sword that is heat treated to a soft condition (annealed) is not more floppy than the object in the normal hardened condition.

Structures is great. I picked it up after receiving The New Science... as a gift. It's propping up my monitor at my WFH desk now, so it literally is why things don't fall down.

The New Science of Strong Materials, or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor by J.E. Gordon is a great casual introduction to material science that touches on this relation between size and fatigue life.

However, it was written in 1968 before these semiconductors were developed. Do you have any recommendations for further reading on the design or history of MEMS?

How about this? In rare circumstances, it may loop forever.

  def uneven_random():
      # return 0 with 2/7 probability, 1 with 2/7 probability, and 2 with 3/7 probability
      n = random.random()
      if n < 2.0/7: return 0
      if n < 4.0/7: return 1
      return 2

  def transformed_random():
      # return 0 or 1 with 50% probability
      N = uneven_random()
      while N == 2 : N = uneven_random()
      return N