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Study Practicum: Building an Evidence-First Learning Route

Practicum Maps

graph LR
  family["Python Programming"]
  program["Python Meta-Programming"]
  module["Module 00"]
  practice["Study practicum"]
  course["Course evidence"]
  capstone["Capstone transfer"]

  family --> program --> module --> practice
  practice --> course --> capstone
flowchart LR
  context["State current context"] --> boundary["Choose last trusted boundary"]
  boundary --> proof["Run focused course proof"]
  proof --> reason["Record proof and non-claim"]
  reason --> transfer["Choose one capstone transfer"]
  transfer --> review["Compare with answer reasoning"]

This practicum turns orientation into learner work. You are not being asked to memorize the course map. You are being asked to construct a defensible study route, execute its smallest proof, and explain why the capstone comes later.

Complete all four briefs before opening Study Practicum Review.

Working contract

Run commands from the Python Metaprogramming course directory. Keep a short study record with:

  • the boundary you believe is stable
  • the prediction you made before execution
  • the focused command and result
  • what the result proves
  • what it does not prove
  • the next course surface
  • the later capstone transfer

Do not run the broad course gate in this practicum. The point is to practice proportional proof.

Brief 1: establish an honest starting boundary

Starting context

You are comfortable writing Python classes and functions, but you have never studied metaprogramming systematically. You recognize @decorator syntax and property, yet you cannot confidently explain descriptor precedence or metaclass timing.

Objective

Decide whether to begin at Module 01 or skip directly to wrappers in Module 04.

Constraints

  • Do not use familiarity with syntax as evidence of runtime understanding.
  • Test at least one prerequisite claim with a small Python example.
  • Use the Course Map to identify the first subject lab and focused test.
  • Do not open capstone source as a substitute for the prerequisite check.

Expected evidence

make lab
make lab-test

Retain the Module 01 claim and exit evidence. Add one tiny example that distinguishes a function from a retrieved bound method or class state from instance state.

Acceptance checks

  • Your chosen start names the missing runtime contract, not just a module number.
  • Your prediction appears before the example output.
  • The course command precedes its focused test and capstone transfer.
  • You explain why recognizing decorator syntax does not justify skipping Modules 01–03.

Preserved contract

Ordinary Python object identity remains the starting point for later transformation.

Brief 2: recover after a long break

Starting context

You previously completed through Module 06. Six months later, you remember class decorators and properties but cannot explain when a wrapper is constructed or whether a descriptor can be shadowed by an instance attribute.

Objective

Choose the last genuinely trusted module and build a re-entry plan that does not overstate memory.

Constraints

  • “I completed it before” is not evidence.
  • Move the trusted boundary backward until you can state its exit evidence precisely.
  • Re-prove that boundary before starting a new module.
  • Defer the broad gate.

Expected evidence

Test both the remembered boundary and the safer earlier boundary:

make class-customization-lab
make class-customization-lab-test
make evidence-lab
make evidence-lab-test

Compare which evidence you can explain without reading the answers. Choose one boundary and justify it; do not treat a green command as proof of understanding.

Acceptance checks

  • The selected boundary matches a claim you can explain now.
  • The refresh command and focused test precede the continuation.
  • Your plan names the next capstone command but does not begin there.
  • You record what would cause you to move the boundary backward again.

Preserved contract

Re-entry begins with the last provable contract, not the most advanced remembered page.

Brief 3: choose proportional proof

Starting context

During Module 05, you change a bounded retry decorator so it catches a narrower exception type. You want evidence that the retry contract still preserves the final exception.

Objective

Choose the smallest proof sequence that answers the claim without hiding the learning question inside the full suite.

Constraints

  • Start with the course surface.
  • Distinguish the runtime example from the focused tests.
  • Name the later capstone transfer and explain why it is not the first proof.
  • State one claim the selected evidence cannot establish.

Expected evidence

make decorator-policy-lab
make decorator-policy-lab-test

Record the relevant retry evidence and test assertion.

Acceptance checks

  • Your proof order is course command → focused tests → capstone transfer.
  • You identify attempt bounds, caught exception scope, and final exception identity.
  • You do not claim that the capstone’s action decorator implements retry.
  • You explain when the broad gate would become appropriate.

Preserved contract

Focused proof remains tied to the changed policy while unrelated course behavior is left for the final broad gate.

Brief 4: separate learning from application transfer

Starting context

A learner wants to start Module 09 by reading PluginMeta because “the capstone is the real product.” They have not run the class-creation lab and treat __init_subclass__, metaclass __new__, and metaclass __init__ as interchangeable.

Objective

Design a course-first correction that ends in a focused capstone audit.

Constraints

  • The first executable evidence must come from the Module 09 lab.
  • The plan must distinguish namespace preparation, shaping, and registration timing.
  • The capstone audit must remain non-constructing and non-invoking.
  • Finish by checking the Module 10 governance decision rather than automatically approving the metaclass.

Expected evidence

Your route should use:

make class-creation-lab
make class-creation-lab-test
make capstone-class-creation
make capstone-governance

For each command, write the question it answers and one question it does not answer.

Acceptance checks

  • Course evidence precedes application transfer.
  • You identify a requirement that __init_subclass__ can own and one it cannot own.
  • You explain why class-creation evidence does not by itself approve PluginMeta.
  • Your governance conclusion names a lower-power alternative or an explicit accepted owner.

Preserved contract

The website and course labs teach the mechanism; the capstone tests transfer and integration judgment.

Submission packet

Your completed practicum should contain four short decision records. Each record must name:

  1. starting boundary
  2. prediction
  3. focused course route
  4. observed result
  5. proof
  6. non-claim
  7. capstone transfer
  8. condition for continuing or stepping back

Open the answer only after these records exist. The review provides one defensible route, not a script to copy.