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Module Glossary

Page Maps

graph LR
  family["Python Programming"]
  program["Python Meta-Programming"]
  section["Runtime Governance Mastery Review"]
  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 10: Runtime Governance and Mastery Review in Python Metaprogramming. It keeps the language of this directory stable so the same ideas keep the same names across core lessons, the worked example, practice, review, and capstone proof.

How to use this glossary

Read the directory index first, then return here whenever a page, command, or review discussion starts to feel more vague than the course intends. The goal is stable language, not extra theory.

Terms in this directory

Term Meaning in this directory
Approval gate The point in review where a mechanism must justify its ownership, observability, and reversal story before it is accepted.
Blast radius The scope of collateral impact when dynamic behavior fails or surprises reviewers.
Dynamic execution Running runtime-generated code through compile, eval, or exec.
Escalation boundary The point where a higher-power mechanism must prove that a lower-power tool cannot own the problem honestly.
Feature flag A configuration switch that can disable or narrow a dynamic behavior during tests, rollout, or incident response.
Hook ordering risk The uncertainty introduced when import hooks or other global mechanisms behave differently depending on installation order.
In-process trust boundary The limit of what the current Python process can honestly protect without stronger isolation.
Interface claim The actual promise made by an ABC, protocol, or virtual subclass rule, as distinct from the reputation of the mechanism.
Lowest-power choice The least invasive mechanism that still owns the behavior at the right timing and scope.
Observational surface A command, manifest, or API that reveals runtime facts without triggering the business behavior under inspection.
Operational honesty The discipline of describing what a runtime mechanism really guarantees about safety, timing, visibility, and rollback.
Process isolation A separate runtime boundary used when hostile input or risky execution must not share memory and globals with the current process.
Reset hook An explicit function or method that restores shared runtime state to a known baseline.
Restricted-globals fallacy The false belief that narrowing globals or __builtins__ makes in-process dynamic execution safe against untrusted input.
Reversibility The ability to turn dynamic behavior off, undo it, or restore baseline state cleanly.
Runtime power ladder The ordered view of mechanisms by blast radius and review cost, from explicit code up to import hooks and dynamic execution.
Shallow runtime check A runtime interface check that verifies visible structure only and does not prove semantics or deep behavioral correctness.
Tooling-grade mechanism A mechanism that may be justified for instrumentation, tracing, or analysis even when it would be a poor default for application code.
Virtual subclassing Structural acceptance of a type by an ABC through __subclasshook__ rather than through nominal inheritance.

Keep the module connected