The end of this semester I finished COMS7201 – Computer Networks 1. For some reason, it was one of the most satisfying courses I’ve taken.
I’ve written about all about it right here – Computer Networks 1, describing the assessment and several of the main concepts taught. Since writing that page, I still haven’t gone back and fixed the issues in the assignments, particularly Assignment 3. I want to implement the 1s Complement checksum and totally native IP header generation. I’ve been doing other things with my spare time instead, like adding a feature to my Chat Log Parser/Viewer to group chats by day, writing for Weekend Notes on Mt Gambier plus other life skills updating and of course general life.
One approach I’ve started a few weeks ago is to create a daily goal to practice coding (and I’ve added writing) every day, but only for 15 minutes each day. This forces me to break up the task into discrete units of work – one (or two) unit test/s, one (or 2) method/s or classes, one paragraph or just the outline. I’ve found this method to work well so far, I don’t get put off with a long session when I want to relax but I still make progress. If I find I’m going really well and get into the groove (Flow), I can certainly keep going, but if not I can stop.
The above approach doesn’t work so well with university study because the assignments have due dates. This is good for personal projects and hobbies though.
