diff --git a/utils.hpp b/utils.hpp
index 3b74a0d..14088ab 100644
--- a/utils.hpp
+++ b/utils.hpp
@@ -2,12 +2,17 @@
 #define DEF_utils
 
 #include <ostream>
+#include <utility>
 
 #define PRINT_VAR(x) std::cout << #x << "\t= " << (x) << "\n"
 #define PRINT_VEC(x);	{std::cout << #x << "\t= "; \
 						for(unsigned int i_print_vec = 0 ; i_print_vec < (x).size() ; i_print_vec++) \
 							std::cout << (x)[i_print_vec] << "\t"; \
 						std::cout << "\n";}
+#define PRINT_STR(x) std::cout << (x) << "\n"
+
+template<typename T, typename T2> auto min(const T & a, const T2 & b) -> decltype(a | b) { return (a < b) ? T(a) : T(b); }
+template<typename T, typename T2> auto max(const T & a, const T2 & b) -> decltype(a | b) { return (a < b) ? T(b) : T(a); }
 
 template<typename T, template<class,class...> class C, class... Args>
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const C<T,Args...>& objs)
@@ -17,4 +22,15 @@ std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const C<T,Args...>& objs)
     return os;
 }
 
+/// Convenience template class to do StdPairValueCatcher(a, b) = someFunctionThatReturnsAnStdPair<A,B>()
+/// Instead of doing a = std::get<0>(result_from_function), b = std::get<1>(result_from_function)
+template<typename A, typename B>
+struct StdPairValueCatcher
+{
+    A & a;
+    B & b;
+    StdPairValueCatcher(A & a_, B & b_) : a(a_), b(b_) {}
+    std::pair<A, B> const& operator=(std::pair<A, B> const& p) {a = std::get<0>(p);  b = std::get<1>(p); return p; }
+};
+
 #endif