Chapter 329 - 255: You Can Learn It Just by Watching?

Chapter 329: Chapter 255: You Can Learn It Just by Watching?

Next was the third book—

Deep Understanding of Computer Systems

This book was renowned in programming circles, known as "CSAPP."

It was said to be a "god-tier book" that everyone who wanted to deeply understand the low-level principles of computers had to chew their way through.

Then came the fourth book—

Principles of Compiler Design

Commonly known as the "Dragon Book."

Because there was a dragon drawn on the cover.

This book was considered a "nightmare" by countless computer science students.

It was said that people who could finish and fully understand this book were few and far between.

Then came the fifth, sixth, and seventh books...

Chen Lin watched, wide-eyed, as his own hands relentlessly pulled one computer science textbook after another from the shelf.

Operating System Concepts

Database System Concepts

Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface

...

By the time Chen Lin came to his senses, he was holding a stack of ten books.

They were piled a good half-meter high.

They were heavy, weighing at least twenty or thirty pounds.

"..."

Looking at the "mountain of books" in his arms, the corner of Chen Lin’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

However, with the triple stamina bonus from [Little Champion], holding all these books didn’t feel tiring at all.

He just looked a little foolish.

Just when Chen Lin thought the system would make him carry the books back to the office—

His body suddenly turned in a different direction.

Not toward the stairwell.

But deeper down the corridor.

"Hm?"

Chen Lin was a little confused.

’Where am I going?’

He soon had his answer.

His body stopped in front of a door.

It was a private study room.

Through the small window on the door, he could see it was empty inside.

There was just a desk, a chair, and a table lamp.

Chen Lin’s hand automatically rose and pushed the door open.

Then, his body walked in and placed the stack of books firmly on the desk.

THUD—

The door closed behind him.

Immediately after—

Chen Lin’s body sat down in the chair.

The motion was smooth and fluid, all in one go.

DING!

The very instant his butt touched the seat, the system notification rang out in his mind once again:

[Gift of ten textbooks has been completed!]

[Continuing Automatic Learning...]

Chen Lin: "..."

He finally understood.

The logic behind the [Automatic Learning] function was this—

First, it detected the host’s current knowledge level.

Then, it matched that level with an optimal learning path.

Next, it found suitable learning materials.

And finally... it began the learning process.

In a way, this really was "automatic" learning.

In the most literal sense of the word.

Chen Lin watched as his hand automatically rose and took the first book from the top of the stack—

Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C.

The legendary "little yellow book."

The book opened, stopping at the first Chapter.

[Chapter 1: Introduction]

Chen Lin’s eyes began to automatically scan the text on the pages.

He wanted to blink, but his eyelids were not under his control.

He wanted to turn his head, but his neck was also not under his control.

He felt as if he were pinned to the chair, forced to let the system control his eyes as they scanned the book’s contents, line by line.

To be honest, the feeling was a little strange.

But it wasn’t as uncomfortable as he had imagined.

Because although his body was out of his control, his consciousness was clear.

He could clearly see every word and every symbol in the book.

And strangely, he found that he could actually understand it.

Not the kind of "understanding" where you recognize all the words but have no idea what they mean when put together.

He could truly comprehend it.

The content of Chapter 1, "Introduction," was mainly an overview of data structures and algorithms.

What is a data structure?

What is an algorithm?

Why do we need to learn these things?

The book provided detailed answers to all these questions.

Chen Lin discovered that as he read, a clear framework of knowledge was automatically forming in his mind.

It was as if someone was organizing his notes for him.

Every concept, every definition, was placed exactly where it belonged.

’This feeling...’

Chen Lin muttered to himself.

’It’s kind of like watching a video on fast-forward.’

’And it’s also like having a built-in feature that highlights the key points.’

Time ticked by, second by second.

Chen Lin just watched as his hand automatically turned a page every so often.

The speed at which the pages turned was much faster than his usual reading pace.

The entire first Chapter was only about twenty pages long.

It took less than twenty minutes.

With the system controlling his eyes, he scanned through the entire Chapter’s content.

When the last page was turned, Chen Lin’s hand automatically stopped.

Immediately after, the pages began to flutter on their own. The title of Chapter 2 appeared before his eyes—

[Chapter 2: Algorithm Analysis]

A new Chapter began.

But Chen Lin’s attention wasn’t on the book right now.

He was recalling.

Recalling the contents of the first Chapter.

’Data structures are the way computers store and organize data...’

’Algorithms are the steps and methods for solving specific problems...’

’Time complexity and space complexity are two important metrics for measuring an algorithm’s efficiency...’

’Big O notation is used to describe the worst-case time complexity of an algorithm...’

One by one, the concepts and definitions surfaced clearly in his mind.

It wasn’t like rote memorization, the kind of information you had to repeat over and over to remember.

Instead, it was... how to put it?

It was like knowledge he had already thoroughly mastered.

He could recall it effortlessly, as if it were at his fingertips.

’Holy shit...’

Chen Lin exclaimed in his mind.

This [Automatic Learning] function...

’It’s really something else!’

Normally, when he read this kind of textbook, finishing a Chapter in half an hour was his absolute limit.

And even then, he’d remember sixty to seventy percent of it at most.

The rest required repeated review, note-taking, and even hands-on practice to truly master.

But now—

Twenty minutes to finish a Chapter.

And he understood it all immediately.

It completely skipped the process of reviewing, consolidating, and practicing.

’Is this what it feels like to use a cheat?!’

Chen Lin’s mood instantly brightened.

He was no longer hung up on the fact that his body was out of his control.

With this new mindset, Chen Lin began to earnestly "spectate" the contents of the second Chapter.

Chapter 2, "Algorithm Analysis," was a lot more hardcore than the overview in Chapter 1.

The strict mathematical definition of Big O notation.

A comparison of the growth rates of common functions.

Methods for solving recurrence relations.

Several different algorithms for the maximum subsequence sum problem and their time complexity analysis.

...

If Chen Lin were to read this content himself, it would definitely take him at least an hour or so.

Because it involved quite a bit of mathematical derivation and proofs.

Although he had the [Little Mathematician] title and math wasn’t a problem for him,

the issue was that these mathematical derivations and proofs were closely intertwined with the algorithms themselves.

You not only had to understand the math but also the algorithmic concepts behind it.

That required time to digest.

However—

The system didn’t seem to have any intention of giving him that time.

The pages continued to turn at a steady pace.

No pauses, no flipping back.

It was as smooth as reading a web novel.

Twenty minutes later.

Chapter 2 was finished, too.

Once again, Chen Lin began to recall the content in his mind.

’The definition of Big O notation is...’

’If there exist positive constants c and n? such that T(n) ≤ c·f(n) for all n ≥ n?, then we say T(n) = O(f(n))...’

’The common growth rates, from slowest to fastest, are: constant O(1), logarithmic O(log n), linear O(n), O(n log n), polynomial O(n2), O(n3)... exponential O(2?), factorial O(n!)...’

’The three methods for solving recurrence relations: the substitution method, the recursion-tree method, and the master theorem...’

’The different solutions to the maximum subsequence sum problem: brute-force O(n3), optimized brute-force O(n2), divide and conquer O(n log n), dynamic programming O(n)...’

Clear.

Complete.

Accurate.

Chen Lin silently compared it to the book’s content in his mind—although the system had already turned to Chapter 3, he remembered everything he had been "forced" to read with perfect clarity.

He hadn’t missed a single word.

More importantly, he hadn’t just memorized it; he understood it.

Take the master theorem, for example—

T(n) = aT(n/b) + f(n)

If it had been the old him, he would have had to pore over this formula several times just to figure out what a, b, and f(n) each represented.

But now, the answer was directly in his head:

a is the number of subproblems.

b is the factor by which the subproblem size is reduced.

f(n) is the extra work required to combine the solutions of the subproblems.

Then, based on the relationship between f(n) and n^(log_b a), you could directly apply the formula to find the time complexity.

This feeling was similar to what he experienced when [Little Mathematician] helped him solve math problems.

’Fucking awesome...’

Chen Lin sighed with sincere admiration in his heart.

The system, however, paid no mind to Chen Lin’s current mental state and had already turned to Chapter 3...