Course Guide

Use this page when you want the big picture without losing the learner-first route. Deep Dive Make has several surfaces, but they do not have equal teaching value at every stage. The central rule is simple:

Learn the idea in a small setting first, then use the capstone to confirm it in a larger repository.

Deep Dive Make has four durable surfaces:

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

The recommended reading order

flowchart LR
  start["Start Here"] --> orient["Module 00"]
  orient --> early["Modules 01-03"]
  early --> middle["Modules 04-06"]
  middle --> late["Modules 07-10"]
  late --> capstone["Capstone and review surfaces"]

That order matters because later skills assume earlier honesty:

• release work is weak without graph truth
• performance tuning is risky without determinism
• governance language is empty without working evidence

A full module day

Each teaching module is designed to support a complete day of self-study:

1. run the smallest demonstration before reading the advanced case
2. read the five core lessons and reproduce their commands
3. work through the realistic example without skipping the evidence loop
4. complete Exercises 1-5 to establish the module contract
5. complete Exercises 6-10 to apply, pressure-test, and integrate it
6. compare your reasoning with the answers only after recording your own
7. keep the resulting commands, observations, and explanation in your portfolio

Module 00 is orientation rather than one of the ten exercise-bearing modules. Modules 01-10 contribute ten exercises each, for 100 exercises across the course.

What belongs in each surface

Surface	Use it for	Do not expect it to do
orientation	getting ready, building study rhythm, seeing the whole arc	teaching advanced Make features
modules	learning one day-sized concept deeply	proving everything about the capstone
capstone	seeing the idea survive a realistic repository	acting as first contact for a beginner
reference	reviewing, repairing, and checking boundaries	replacing the lesson sequence

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	incident or governance pages
one support page for urgency	Pressure Routes	random browsing through guides/
proof sizing	Proof Ladder	the strongest available command
module-to-repository routing	Capstone Map	raw repository files
durable review maps	Reference	course-home prose

The Course Arc

Arc	Modules	What becomes legible
graph truth	Modules 01-03	truthful edges, publication boundaries, parallel safety, and self-testing
pressure and hardening	Modules 04-06	precedence, portability, modeled hidden inputs, and generator boundaries
reusable build surfaces	Modules 07-08	layered mk/ design, public targets, and release contracts
incident and stewardship judgment	Modules 09-10	observability, migration boundaries, and long-lived governance

The support shelf by job

• 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
6. use the Completion Rubric to review your exercise evidence

A warning about skipping ahead

The course is intentionally cumulative. If you jump to a later module because it sounds more advanced, you often borrow vocabulary without the model underneath it. The common result is recognizable phrasing and weak decisions.

If a later module feels compelling, ask which earlier skill it depends on:

• parallel safety depends on truthful edges
• generator design depends on honest output ownership
• release discipline depends on stable artifact meaning
• migration judgment depends on all of the above

That is why the course begins with tiny file targets rather than with a large Make-based application.

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