End of the year again; time for the usual year-end summary. This is my second one. I hope I can keep the habit, looking back each year at what I actually did.
Timeline
The first half of the year was mostly 408 fundamentals: data structures and algorithms, computer networks, operating systems, and computer architecture.
I ran Arch Linux for two months. Bugs the whole time, but I basically Google'd my way through them. I remember a course lab needed Matlab; every step hit a bug, three full days of debugging before it even worked. Then Discord — both the web app and the desktop client — wouldn't open, and that was the last straw. I really wanted to try Midjourney, but Discord just wouldn't launch, so I switched systems in the end.
I also spent some time on the One Student One Chip (一生一芯) project in the first half of the year, but put it on hold because exam-prep time was tight.
I got through the fairly boring junior-year spring exams. The only course worth mentioning was the lab class on communication modeling and simulation. Taught by an energetic woman who actually wanted us to learn something, and she didn't make the exam that hard (though in the end the TA quietly gave us a tiny hint so the scores would look decent). The grade curve was reasonable too. If you want to go further in communications, that class is worth studying properly. I was busy studying CS though...
In May (I remembered it as the second half of the year; I had to look it up to realize it was May) Chen Hao passed away. The articles and words he left still push me. If I'm going to be a programmer, I want to be like him. Long way to go. Keep going.
Summer, prepping for the postgraduate exam, I worked a bit harder. Every day my childhood friend and I went to a study room near home. I even followed him into his university once — the teaching buildings and canteen were so much better than my dump of a school...
The month before the new semester started I was studying 408 and calculus, seriously prepping for the exam. Then they added the engineering master's/PhD track this year, and I got a recommendation for graduate school. I found an advisor, settled on a graduation project, and after that just focused on fundamentals through the end of the year. Sometimes I get anxious: time is limited, and I want to learn too much. I keep telling myself the path I chose is the right one. Don't look back. Just keep walking.
In the second half of the year there were family things I had to go home for — more than half a month in total. I won't go into the sad parts.
Fediverse
I created an account at the start of the year; I only started using it a lot a few months later, posting daily stuff and complaints. Moved from defcon.social to o3o.ca, then to vnil.de, and that finally felt like settling down. On Fediverse I talk more freely; sometimes I just say whatever comes to mind. Less pressure, and I made friends. That's nice. I'll keep hanging out on Fediverse.
Media
I watched anime, movies, and read books this year — just not that many. Most of my energy went into school.
PyCon China, in person
PyCon China was pretty much the only event I went to this year, same venue as last year's open-source conference: Microsoft Tower. Picked up merch, listened to talks, met Manjusaka.
Finally
Looking back, I did grow this year. I didn't stall. That's good. That's a really good thing.
I hope next year I can make a real jump in professional skills, and grow a bit faster. A bit faster.