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Module Glossary

Page Maps

graph LR
  family["Python Programming"]
  program["Python Meta-Programming"]
  section["Signatures Provenance Runtime Evidence"]
  page["Module Glossary"]
  capstone["Capstone evidence"]

  family --> program --> section --> page
  page -.applies in.-> capstone
flowchart LR
  orient["Orient on the page map"] --> read["Read the main claim and examples"]
  read --> inspect["Inspect the related code, proof, or capstone surface"]
  inspect --> verify["Run or review the verification path"]
  verify --> apply["Apply the idea back to the module and capstone"]

This glossary belongs to Module 03: Signatures, Provenance, and Runtime Evidence in Python Metaprogramming. It keeps the language of this directory stable so the same ideas keep the same names across lessons, practice, and capstone discussion.

How to use this glossary

Use the glossary when a page or review discussion starts to blur together contract evidence, provenance hints, structural inspection, and diagnostic stack data. Module 03 is meant to keep those evidence classes distinct.

Terms in this directory

Term Meaning in this directory
Argument binding Using Signature.bind() or bind_partial() to simulate Python's call matching and produce explicit parameter/value relationships.
Best-effort provenance Context recovered through helpers such as getsource, getfile, and getmodule, useful but not safe to treat as correctness-grade truth.
Bound arguments The BoundArguments object produced by binding, mapping parameters to supplied values.
Bound method signature The callable contract visible on an already-bound method, which omits the instance parameter because it is already attached.
Contract evidence Structured runtime evidence about how a callable should be invoked, especially through inspect.signature.
Diagnostic-only evidence Runtime evidence that belongs to debugging and tooling, such as frames and stack inspection, rather than ordinary application logic.
Dynamic member enumeration Value-oriented inspection through inspect.getmembers, which can execute descriptors and other lookup behavior.
Frame retention hazard The risk that retaining frame or traceback objects keeps locals and caller chains alive longer than intended.
Parameter kind The invocation category attached to a Parameter, such as positional-only or keyword-only.
Provenance helper A helper such as getsource, getfile, or getmodule that tries to recover where an object came from.
Signature An inspect.Signature object describing a callable's invocation contract.
Static structure The raw attached members or descriptors visible through static lookup rather than through normal dynamic resolution.
Static lookup Inspection through inspect.getattr_static, which avoids normal attribute-protocol execution.
bind_partial() Partial argument binding that allows required parameters to remain unbound.
getmembers() Dynamic enumeration that resolves values for discovered names.
inspect.signature Structured callable introspection that exposes parameters, annotations, and binding helpers when available.
inspect.stack() High-cost stack inspection that belongs to diagnostics, not routine application control flow.
Parameter A single formal argument inside a Signature, carrying name, kind, default, and annotation data.
POSITIONAL_ONLY A parameter kind that may be supplied only positionally.
KEYWORD_ONLY A parameter kind that may be supplied only by keyword.
__signature__ override An explicit signature surface supplied by a callable or framework.
__wrapped__ chain Wrapper metadata used by tools such as inspect.signature to recover the underlying callable contract.

Keep the module connected