Make the program easy to stop and inspect

What you will learn

Finish with clear status, useful logs, and a repeatable paper-run review. This is a draft lesson outline for the course preview.

The idea

A small system needs a clear operating state. Connecting, ready, paused, and stopped should have explicit meanings. Write down which states allow paper decisions and which require the program to wait.

A small example

Draft a run record containing the code version, configuration, input source, start and stop times, and any interrupted intervals. A future review should not have to reconstruct these details from memory.

Try it yourself

Run a controlled stop-and-restart exercise on paper. Explain which state is restored, which is reset, and what the first allowed decision looks like.

Before you move on

Can you explain the last decision using the saved log? Can you stop the system without leaving a confusing status on screen?

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