Learning

What I'm studying right now

I'm using this site to explain how frontend, backend, browser, infrastructure, and business layers fit together instead of treating them like isolated topics.

1. Hardware and OS

The physical machine, memory, storage, GPU, and operating system capabilities that the browser stands on top of.

Example: video decoding can happen with hardware acceleration so the GPU does the heavy lifting instead of the CPU.

2. Browser runtime

The browser parses HTML, applies CSS, executes JavaScript, buffers media, manages cache, and decides what to request next.

Example: a video element can have `readyState = HAVE_ENOUGH_DATA` even though nothing has been permanently “downloaded” into your Downloads folder.

3. Frontend application

The visible app layer: routes, components, forms, event handlers, content hierarchy, and accessibility decisions.

Example: whether a visitor sees “Programs” or “Services” in the navigation changes what they expect the site to do.

4. Network and CDN

DNS, TLS, HTTP requests, caching rules, edge nodes, byte-range requests, and the path data takes before it reaches the browser.

Example: a raw `.mov` may be served by a CDN with byte-range support so the browser can stream and buffer only the parts it needs.

5. Backend and APIs

Server-side logic, auth, webhooks, third-party APIs, and business rules that the frontend depends on but usually hides.

Example: OAuth credentials, Google Ads access, and GA4 property permissions decide whether a demo is truly usable or just superficially connected.

6. Data and business systems

Databases, storage, logging, rate limits, deployment, offers, contracts, and domain boundaries that turn a project into an actual operating system.

Example: keeping `cs-learning.me` personal and `highencodelearning.com` business-facing is a business-layer decision, not just a frontend one.

Concrete example: what happens when a browser plays a video

This is one of the cleanest ways to see multiple layers at once.

  1. •The page renders a `<video>` element with one or more source URLs.
  2. •The browser chooses a supported source and issues HTTP requests for that media.
  3. •Data is buffered in memory and sometimes cached on disk, but that is not the same as a user-visible file download.
  4. •Because the browser has the bytes, a motivated user can still capture them, which is why raw-file delivery is weak protection for copyrighted video.
  5. •More defensive setups move toward HLS/DASH segmentation, signed URLs, and DRM, but even then the analog hole remains.

Why the two domains matter

Domain structure is part of the abstraction stack too. It changes trust, expectations, and the kind of conversation a visitor expects to have.

cs-learning.me

Personal, reflective, and exploratory. This is where I can document what I am learning without pretending every note is a product.

highencodelearning.com

Business-facing and operational. This is where I can package services, demos, and scoped work under a clean brand boundary.