Tracking my Computer Science Relearning Journey

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I have been studying full time since June 24,2025(Ashar 10,2082).

First month

I prioritized two subjects

• software engineering
• computer networks

I have discussed about my what I studied, resources that I used in this blog. I will add a couple of things here for computer networks.

How satisfied am I with myself completing computer networks? Very much. I would rate it “It cannot get much better than this ,specially in such a short amount of time”

Things I want to further study related to this subject:

• Token bus, token ring, FDDI, PPP,HDLC, virtual circuit switching: frame relay, ATM, X.25, MPLS
• VLSM(Variable Length Subnet Mask) Subnetting
• Routing protocols: RIP, OSPF, BGP, IS-IS
• ICMP messages
• VoIP, FoIP; remote login protocols: telnet, SSH; traffic monitoring: MRTG, bandwidth, throughput, latency/delay
• Software-Defined Networking

Software Engineering:

I followed this syllabus. I am not highly satisfied with myself after completing software engineering. I could have tried harder. Thus, I am planning to learn it again if I find some spare time. Some of the concepts that I really want to learn are interrelated with other subjects. Hence while studying other subjects like Distributed Systems, I might review this one. The books that I followed was “Ian Sommerville’s Software Engineering”. I did know about Roger S Pressman’s Software Engineering, but I preferred former over the latter. I felt that Sommerville’s book was very generalist. To be honest, I think the nature of software engineering subject is generalist in itself. You have to study software testing, software architecture and so much more in one subject. I do not think it is possible to write a book that encompasses all of these concepts in great depth.

Second month

I spent this month ineffectively. Specially the first fifteen days when I attempted to study from the comfort of my home.

I was all over the place. I started with Data Structures and Discrete Mathematics. Turns out(who knew), it is good to have some programming background for learning the implementations of data structures. I was learning Java through Daniel Liang’s Comprehensive Java textbook. I had not yet reached the chapter “Generics” which is crucial for understanding Data Structures concepts. Since I was adamant on studying at home instead of paying for private libraries, I purchased an expensive chair for ergonomics. I only stayed a week at home before joining government owned library, Central Law Library located at Jamal, Kathmandu.

I did some JavaFX programming here and there. Specially, solved exercises from chapter 14 of Liang’s textbook. While writing this article, I was going through my journal and I noticed I was not completing anything that I put in my todo list.

I was really scattered. The government library was merely a namesake. It opened at 11AM. And closed at 7PM. The closing time was fine to me, but 11AM? Dude! Is it a library or a government office?

Later, I joined private library. Then I started to be effective again. Just the day before, I had started to learn about Computer Organization and Architecture. And I continued my journey. At this point, my plan was to study Computer Organization and Architecture, Computer Graphics and somehow be prepared to implement data structures in Java. While studying COA, I noticed it would be helpful to revise my digital logic fundamentals. Specially the adder, subtractor and basics of binary number systems.

I started learning computer graphics as well. I completed the rasterization chapter. I revised it as well. Revision is so, so satisfying. You gain new insights from revising. I practiced “active-recall” techniques for revision.

I attempted to learn Generics in Java, but usually had a hard time internalizing those concepts. While I partially studied them, I left halfway through and went back to doing JavaFX exercises, as I had skipped those earlier to jump into generics.

I had fun for some time with JavaFX solving exercises from the textbook. Soon, however, I found myself overcommitting time on JavaFX(which is not my utmost priority); thus I decided to skip it for a few weeks.

I am reading a lot of different textbooks simultaneously. But I follow only one from end to end. For COA, it is John P. Hayes. For computer graphics it is “Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice” by Foley et al. I do not think it( is possible to cover this(Computer Graphics) book end to end, though. I also have Samit Bhattacharya’s Computer graphics but it is a below average book. Not worth the purchase.

I collected some study advice to remind myself.

• Do not wear headphones(assuming you are listening to music over it) while studying. I completely avoided bringing headphones to library. However, I allowed myself to chill once I arrived at home. The reason behind it was multi-tasking while studies decreases the efficiency. May be this varies from person to person.
• Maintain daily todo list. Make it the day before. This helps to frame your next day.
• Maintain daily log of what you did that day. It need not be a minute by minute log. When you look back at it some days later, it should not be confusing figuring out what you actually did that day.
• Switch between subjects every 2 hours. This helps for some reason. I am really bad at following this however.
• The moment you feel like I am stuck learning a concept, start a timer. For example: 90 minutes timer. Do not keep yourself stuck on that topic for longer than that the specific day. Start next day, and repeat the same thing. I am assuming you have prerequisites to study the subject. Otherwise, this would not make any sense.
• I made a rule for myself to at the library until 7PM. Even when I used to feel like “let me go home and rest”, I stayed. This was really tough some days, but I pushed through. This helped me stay consistent in studying. Studying is not going to be fun every day, even if you like it. You need to push through it some days.

Update: Bhadra 14,2082 Saturday (August 30,2025)

My second month has ended. I am late to the progress report. My relatives have accused me of studying too much. I guess they are trying to point fingers at me for not being able to deliver results. Thus I have decided to be more outcome focused. I have put myself up on fiverr(you might laugh at this but I got rejected by Toptal due to having too few years of experience) for a start. I am also rethinking of how could I utilize my dedication in studies and learning new things into something that creates a tangible outcome. I would appreciate if you could write me about this.

I made couple of videos and posted on YouTube. They were churned out from the content of my blog.

I had set up goals till Bhadra 27,2082 as follows:

• Finish COA
• Finish Computer Graphics
• Finish Discrete Mathematics
• Finish Data Structures And Algorithms

I realize how practically impossible was this. Computer graphics alone had prerequisites from pre-calculus, linear algebra and geometry. I had studied them in and on the way to my computer engineering degree(in Engineering Mathematics courses). However, there was a problem with the approach we were evaluated. The way we were taught was to be procedurally fluent without conceptual understanding. Most of us(graduates from Tribhuvan University, Nepal) can solve problems like calculators by plugging in formulas, but we lack practical understanding. Knowing when to apply a concept is more important in real life than knowing how to apply it, because real-world problem-solving starts with the former.

I obviously struggled learning computer graphics principles and it led to a new plan in my mind. I want to do a higher education in computer science. I have been for long interested in HPC, cryptography, computational geometry. I feel the train for higher studies has passed for me, specially a PhD(with a Master’s included). You know Nepalese society somehow wants you to believe that life needs to be set in Nepal (in this economy) by certain age.

I am working on my interpersonal skills as well. It is doable. I was reading documents from this website about assertiveness. I realized I am an extremely unassertive person. I felt the need to provide help for anyone. It was not directed by any morality rather through automatic unassertive thoughts.

There are some assertive rights of every individual. You can read about them online.

PS: The title of this post came along with the guidance of chatgpt. I wanted to be extremely honest and objective on this journey.

I also made couple of videos. Soon I realized how important learning graphic design and animation/presentation skills was. Since it was not a high priority for the time being, I decided to focus only on the blog.

Back to my computer science self study schedule! Learning 2D and 3D Transformations for computer graphics was complicated.

Since I had finished two chapters from COA, I scanned the notes of the first chapter. My progress on JavaFX learning had started to halt. So, I decided to take a break from JavaFX for some time. I decided to start with Generics after few weeks.

I had multiple days in this week where I did absolutely nothing. It was a vicious cycle of procrastination(this is not the exact word I was looking for, but I hope you get what I mean). Hence I decided to meditate and workout regularly. Next day, I would start curve representation in computer graphics. Oh boy, this was even more scary than transformations chapter. I still persisted and spent few days on this subject.

I started studying control design in COA. I was stuck in non-restoring division. Although I could trace the algorithm and understood its underlying principles, I could not fully internalize it.

I decided to take some mathematics courses on Udemy from hania. Thus I loaded dollar card with 200 dollars(so much for my promise to never spend a dime on Udemy courses again-specially after spending thousands there).

Learning subjects without prerequisites is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. And I think the reason why students often perform badly in Tribhuvan University, Institute of Engineering is because you are allowed to continue next year irrespective of how many subjects you flunked in previous year. This creates a ripple effect: students do not understand anything in their current classes because of fundamentals gaps from earlier semesters. Basically a vicious cycle of flunking classes, not learning anything.

As today is Saturday, I went to library without my laptop to digitally detox.

I decided few things today:

• I would not continue computer graphics further. I have reached deadlock-like state in studying this subject. Computer graphics is not a core computer science foundation that one needs for truly understanding the world of softwares. It is also not the most important subject for exams that I am preparing for.
• Finishing generics on java would be my top priority, as it holds all the cards. My next plan is learning data structures, algorithms, operating systems, database management systems and distributed systems.
• I will continue studying COA. Although, John P Hayes’ textbook is hard I am going to persist with fortitude.

Third Month

My third month starts from Bhadra 15,2082 i.e. Sunday. I will report my progress second week of Ashoj.

I will continue writing about my journey on my blog.

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