Course Guide

Guide Fit

flowchart TD
  family["Reproducible Research"] --> program["Deep Dive DVC"]
  program --> pressure["A concrete learner or reviewer question"]
  pressure --> guide["Course Guide"]
  guide --> next["Modules, capstone, and reference surfaces"]

flowchart TD
  question["What kind of help do you need?"] --> choose["Choose the matching course surface"]
  choose --> route["Open one guide, module, or capstone page"]
  route --> next_move["Leave with one smaller next move"]

Read the first diagram as a timing map: this guide is a support hub, not another chapter. Read the second diagram as the loop: identify the kind of help you need, choose the matching surface, then leave with one smaller next move.

Deep Dive DVC has four durable surfaces:

1. course home and orientation for entry and reading order
2. modules for the teaching arc itself
3. capstone pages for executable corroboration
4. reference pages for durable review and repair maps

Choose the right surface

If you need...	Start here	Do not start with
first entry into the course	Start Here	the capstone repository
the module sequence explained	Module 00	release or recovery pages
one support page for urgency	Pressure Routes	random browsing through guides/
state authority and evidence rules	Truth Contracts	the strongest available command
module-to-repository routing	Capstone Map	raw repository files
durable review maps	Reference	course-home prose

The teaching arc

Arc	Modules	What becomes legible
state foundations	Modules 01-03	data identity, cache truth, environment boundaries, and authority
truthful execution and experiments	Modules 04-06	stage edges, params, metrics, and bounded experiment change
collaboration and recovery pressure	Modules 07-08	CI discipline, survivability, and remote-backed restoration
promotion and governance	Modules 09-10	downstream trust, migration boundaries, and stewardship judgment

The support shelf by job

• Read Truth Contracts when change and evidence rules still feel fuzzy.
• Read Module Promise Map when module titles feel too compressed.
• Read Module Checkpoints when you need a visible exit bar.
• Read Pressure Routes when the reading order is shaped by urgency.
• Read Proof Matrix when you already know the claim and need the evidence surface.
• Read Command Guide when you know the route but not the command layer.
• Read Capstone Guide when you need the capstone contract before opening repository files.

Best defaults

Use these as your stable defaults unless the current pressure gives you a stronger reason:

1. enter with Start Here
2. anchor in Module 00
3. read modules in order
4. keep Proof Ladder nearby
5. enter the capstone through Capstone Map

Good stopping point

Stop when you can answer two questions clearly:

• which surface should answer the next question
• why the heavier surfaces would be premature right now