Day 54 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python
I’ve been dancing with this project for over two weeks now. And you know what? When your project involves books—the thing you’re borderline obsessed with—you start fussing over the little things. Like menus. Yes, menus.
Today was the day I finally tackled something that had been silently bothering me: the out-of-whack order of the main menu. I had “Exit” sitting at #7 like it owned the place, while other features awkwardly piled up from 8 to 12. Not exactly elegant. So I did what any self-respecting, slightly neurotic book tracker would do—I cleaned house.
I reorganized the main menu to follow a more logical and satisfying sequence. Something clean, orderly, and sometimes won’t drive future-me (or any poor GitHub visitor) up the wall.
Here’s the new lineup, alphabet soup no more:
- Add a book
- Edit or delete a book
- Show all books
- Import from CSV
- Show overall reading graph
- Show genre summary chart (Pie or Bar)
- Show filtered chart by year and quarter
- Show average pages per genre per quarter
- Add a new genre and color
- Rename or delete a genre
- Reorder genre list manually
- Exit
Take that, chaos.
Today’s Motivation / Challenge
The real motivation? Sanity—and a sprinkle of future-proofing. I want to post this project on GitHub when it’s done, and I figured any stranger poking around deserves a user-friendly menu. Think of it like alphabetizing your spice rack: not necessary, but undeniably satisfying.
Also, adding new functions is becoming easier. Which means cleaning up after myself is now the least I can do.
Purpose of the Code (Object)
This script tracks the books you’ve read and turns them into beautiful visual summaries. From adding titles to generating colorful graphs, it’s designed to help readers stay organized, reflect on their reading habits, and play with genre data like it’s LEGO.
Today’s focus? Making the main menu feel like a polished app, not a last-minute potluck.
AI Prompt:
“Reorder the menu options and update the corresponding elif statements so the user sees a more intuitive and logically grouped main menu.”
Functions & Features
- Add, edit, or delete book entries
- Import a list of books from a CSV
- Display all books in a clean format
- Visualize reading progress with graphs
- Analyze reading trends by genre and quarter
- Manage genres with custom colors and order
Requirements / Setup
pip install matplotlib
pip install pandas
tkinter (comes pre-installed with Python)
Tested with Python 3.10+
Minimal Code Sample
print(“12. Exit”)
elif choice == “12”:
print(“Goodbye!”)
break
Just update the number and make sure the function still points to the right feature. Think of it like updating the index in your table of contents—crucial if you don’t want your reader flipping to the wrong page.
Notes / Lessons Learned
Basically, what you need to do is reassign the menu numbers in the order you want. Then, carefully adjust each elif block to reflect the new structure.
I had:
elif choice == “7”:
print(“Goodbye!”)
break
Now I want:
elif choice == “12”:
print(“Goodbye!”)
break
The actual task wasn’t hard. The challenge was not falling into a logic trap—accidentally assigning two features to the same number or skipping one entirely. I highly recommend using AI or a numbered to-do list when reordering more than a few options. Saves brain cells.
It’s funny how a simple reorder can make the whole project feel more finished, more elegant—even if no code logic changes at all.
Optional Ideas for Expansion
- Let users “star” favorite genres for quick filtering
- Add keyboard shortcuts for power users
- Enable saving custom menu layouts as presets