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Checkpoint Gate: After Semester 2

This is an evidence audit and 45–60-minute independent defense, not another large implementation assignment. Use S1–S6 as the only semester decision rule. Module gates keep their own standards. Allow accommodations and record assistance; do not judge competence from speaking speed.

Before the defense​

  • Link all six module assessments, required labs, repairs and retained rechecks.
  • Provide the planner, setup instructions, checks, proof/resource notes, one comparison and adversarial evidence.
  • Preserve the exam attempt and scored worked-key review.
  • List unresolved critical errors and the exact evidence still needed.

Existing artifacts can satisfy several rows when their relevance is explicit. Completion is not determined by number of commits, katas, decks or pages.

Six defense prompts​

  1. S1: derive the dominant project costs including initialization, output, snapshots and B's encoding. Show the admission limit and a rejected request.
  2. S2: trace a new equal-endpoint case through stable sorting and predecessor search. State the invariant and the changed rule for closed intervals.
  3. S3: inspect an unfamiliar readiness certificate; find a wrong finish or missing vertex. Explain what a new back edge changes.
  4. S4: recover a plan from a small DP state, then check it independently. Explain why an added dependency between selected jobs can invalidate that state.
  5. S5: branch twice from an old version and mutate a returned record. Explain isolation, invalid-batch behavior, copy costs and the potential-method ledger.
  6. S6: defend one measured conclusion and its limits. Give a counterexample to an attractive alternative and distinguish a heuristic from safe pruning. Use the Module 6 appendix to defend reduction direction and a matching-based lower bound; explain what changes under vertex weights.

The reviewer chooses fresh values or assumptions after the learner's preparation. These prompt categories are public; repeating the supplied fixture from memory is insufficient. If working alone, label generated variants and results self-assessed.

Repair and delayed transfer​

Map each failure to the corresponding module assessment/contract page and repair the smallest affected set of evidence. Recheck with changed data. After 7–14 days, solve one unseen integration change targeting the weakest competency: closed intervals, finite preparation resources, selected-job dependencies, a strict memory cap, or a historical filter rebuild. A correct response may reject reuse of the old algorithm and specify the new problem precisely; implementing a research algorithm is not required by this transfer.

Sign-off record​

Record source revision, module-gate links, S1–S6 levels, check commands/results, reviewer/self-assessment status, assistance, repaired critical errors, delayed task and result. Sign off only after every required row is satisfied. Carry any remaining noncritical fluency goal into the Semester 3 bridge. Independent review and learner-pilot status of the curriculum are separate from an individual learner's result.

Automata and computability evidence​

Reuse the Module 6 bridge packet for S6: AC1–AC4 each require level 2 alongside CA1–CA6. Preserve the state invariant, language-boundary proof, impossibility/reduction argument and fresh transfer. A timeout called infeasible, or NP-completeness called undecidability, requires repair. This is module assessment evidence, not an additional timed exam or planner feature. Its 20–30 hours are counted in Module 6 (45–65 total), making the semester 465–660 hours.