Day - 1

Today marks Day 1 of my 180-day journey to becoming a Backend & Cloud Engineer.

My focus areas for this challenge are:

Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA)

Backend Development

Cloud Computing

DevOps

Here’s what I learned today.

1. Recursion (Basics)

I started learning the fundamentals of recursion, where a function calls itself to solve smaller instances of the same problem.

Key Ideas

Break the problem into smaller subproblems

Define a base case

The recursive call solves the rest

Example
def factorial(n):
if n == 0:
return 1
return n * factorial(n - 1)

I also solved one basic recursion problem to understand how recursive calls work in the call stack.

1. Hashing (Basics)

Next, I explored hashing, which is used to map keys to values efficiently.

Why Hashing is Useful

Fast lookup

Efficient data retrieval

Commonly used for frequency counting problems

Example Idea

Counting the occurrences of elements using a hash map.

Example concept:

arr = [1,2,2,3,3,3]

freq = {}

for num in arr:
freq[num] = freq.get(num,0) + 1

print(freq)

I solved one hashing-based problem to practice the concept.

1. Understanding Live Stream Architecture

Today I explored how live streaming platforms work behind the scenes.

Reference video:
https://youtu.be/Q9LC-WN9X4k

Basic Flow
Camera / Stream Source
↓
Encoder
↓
Streaming Server (RTMP)
↓
CDN (Content Delivery Network)
↓
Viewer Devices
Important Concepts

Video Encoding

Streaming Protocols

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

Real-time data delivery

This gave me a good overview of how platforms like YouTube Live or Twitch deliver video streams to millions of users.

1. DevOps Fundamentals

Today I started learning the foundations of DevOps and infrastructure.

Localhost

Refers to the local machine

Usually accessed using:

127.0.0.1
Deployment

Deployment is the process of making an application available to users.

Common Deployment Approaches

Manual deployment

Automated deployment pipelines

Domain vs IP Address

Example:

142.250.183.46 → IP Address
google.com → Domain Name

Domains are easier for humans to remember, while computers communicate using IP addresses.

Routing

Routing is the process of directing traffic between networks.

Servers

Two types of servers I learned today:

Bare Metal Server

A physical machine

Dedicated entirely to one user or application

Virtual Machine (VM)

A virtualized system

Runs on top of a host machine

SSH Protocol

SSH (Secure Shell) is used to securely access remote machines.

Example command:

ssh user@server_ip

This is widely used in cloud infrastructure and DevOps workflows.

Key Takeaways

Recursion helps solve problems using smaller subproblems.

Hashing enables efficient lookups and frequency counting.

Live streaming relies on encoders, streaming servers, and CDNs.

DevOps basics revolve around infrastructure, deployment, and remote server management.