FIRST-PRINCIPLES CURRICULUM

Understand the model.
Then engineer the system.

For experienced software engineers who can build production systems but do not yet have dependable ML foundations. Progress records what you can explain and do—not what you scrolled past.

Recommended routeComplete Phase A before application and agent engineering. Optional depth is never a hidden prerequisite.

NO-PENALTY DIAGNOSTIC

Start with uncertainty, not performance.

Without looking anything up, write what you currently believe happens between prompt text and one generated token. Then mark the distinctions you can already explain. Nothing here affects completion.

Training versus inference Context versus memory Model versus agent