July 24, 2026
I Am a Bird 🦉
On knowing nothing after two decades of coding, and deciding to start over.
Lately, I have come to the conclusion that I am a bird. A bird circling a computer from above. In other words, I have come to realize I know nothing about computers despite having been a somewhat fair high-level programmer for two decades.
So I felt the need to start over. The self-made man thing hits increasingly lower and lower with time, but it still hits.
My goal being to watch a damn piece of computer equipment and be able to explain to myself and others what that thing is, what its component hardware and software are, their layers, their operations, interoperations, and networkings.
I needed to level up (or feel like it).
Here is the course.
| Module & Refined Title | Goal & Description | Materials & Authors |
|---|---|---|
| Module 1 Silicon & Logic Architecture | Understand how logic gates, ALUs, CPU registers, and RAM execute binary instructions. | 1. Course: NAND to Tetris (Part 1, Modules 1–5) — Noam Nisan & Shimon Schocken 2. Book: The Elements of Computing Systems — Noam Nisan & Shimon Schocken 3. Book: Code (2nd Ed.) — Charles Petzold |
| Module 2 Sockets & Transport Layers | Master OS sockets, 16-bit port headers, TCP/UDP handshakes, and IP routing directly in Go. | 1. Primary Go Book: Network Programming with Go — Adam Woodbeck 2. Conceptual Reference: Beej's Guide to Network Programming — Brian "Beej" Hall 3. Theory Book: Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach — James Kurose & Keith Ross |
| Module 3 Wireless Protocols & Packets | Capture live traffic, analyze 802.11 radio frames in Wireshark, and understand BLE GATT. | 1. Book: Practical Packet Analysis (3rd Ed.) — Chris Sanders 2. Book: Getting Started with Bluetooth Low Energy — Kevin Townsend, Carles Cufí, Akiba & Robert Davidson 3. Hands-on: Build a BLE scanner in Go using `tinygo-org/bluetooth` |
| Module 4 Linux Systems, Shell & Operations | Understand kernel/systemd mechanics first, master the shell & scripting, then apply server hardening and Tailscale ops. | 1. OS Mechanics: How Linux Works (3rd Ed.) — Brian Ward 2. Shell & Scripting: The Linux Command Line (2nd Ed.) — William Shotts 3. Server Operations: UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (5th Ed.) — Evi Nemeth et al. |
| Module 5 Production Go & API Architecture | Build Chi-compatible Go REST APIs, idiomatic middleware, concurrency safeguards, and production deployments. | 1. Book: Let's Go Further — Alex Edwards 2. Book: 100 Go Mistakes and How to Avoid Them — Teiva Harsanyi |
Here's the final course.