It’s been a week since my first post about rebuilding my tech stack, so here’s my first update.
Progress has been slow, but steady. And honestly, I’m fine with that. Slow progress is still progress.
One thing I discovered very quickly is that I learn far better from books than from online courses. I don’t fully understand why yet, but online courses have always felt difficult for me to stay focused on. My brain just drifts away after a while. Books, however, keep me engaged. They force me to slow down, read carefully, and actually think about what I’m learning instead of passively consuming information.
It honestly makes me curious whether there’s actual research comparing long-term retention between books and video-based learning. Because at least for me, books feel significantly more effective.
This week, I started relearning C using The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie.
Even though I still remember most of the basics from Chapter 1 from my university days, I’m going through everything carefully anyway. No shortcuts this time.
One important thing I changed is how I use AI.
I originally said I wanted to stop relying on it, but I realized something important: when learning alone, sometimes you genuinely don’t know whether you’re making mistakes. Normally, an experienced engineer or teacher would point those out.
So instead of asking AI to solve problems for me, I now use it more like a reviewer or mentor. I write the code myself first, then ask for feedback or guidance only when I get stuck. The difference feels huge already. I’m thinking through problems again instead of outsourcing the thinking process entirely.
So far, I’ve completed the character counting and line counting exercises. Next up are word counting and arrays, which I’m actually looking forward to.
On the game development side, I chose Godot 4 Game Development Projects by Chris Bradfield as my main learning resource.
Before this, I had watched videos about the Godot engine from Brackeys and GDQuest YouTube channel. The videos were helpful, but my learning felt inconsistent and scattered.
The book has been a completely different experience.
Right now, I’m still in Chapter 1, building a very simple game with basic movement and input systems. Technically, I probably could have built it without the book, but that’s not really the point. The book explains small design decisions and implementation details I would never have thought about on my own.
So I’m taking it slowly and reading everything line by line.
This first week wasn’t explosive or dramatic. No “10x productivity.” No overnight transformation.
Just consistent effort.
And honestly, that already feels like a huge step forward.
I’ll keep posting updates as I continue this journey.
Peace.
Yamato out.
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