Lesson 4: Verify like a reviewer, not a spectator
Objective
Both suites pass, and you hold a written record of what the green runs do
and do not prove — plus a reviewed diff you would defend to a colleague.
Why this lesson exists
“All tests pass” is where most AI-assisted work stops — and where most
silent bugs start. A suite proves the contract lines it asserts; it says
nothing about the rows nobody wrote a test for. Verification is a report
you write, not a feeling you have.
The lesson
Run the full pair in the integrated terminal:
python verify.py starter # the implementation you supervised
python verify.py solution # the reviewed reference
Both green means the contract is satisfied as written. Now do the review
the suite cannot do for you:
- Walk a skin end-to-end. Pick a
scenario/<skin>/ folder and run
the tool on it: python starter/report_tool.py scenario/<skin>. Read
the produced report against the input file — recompute one group total
by hand.
- Review the accumulated diff.
git diff (or Cursor’s source-control
panel) shows every hunk that landed across the session. Read it top to
bottom. Every hunk should map to a contract line you named in Lesson 2.
Anything that does not is scope creep — revert or justify it.
- Check the edges the tests skip. Feed the tool an empty CSV, a CSV
with only invalid rows, a missing file. The contract does not pin
these — your judgment does. Write down what it does.
Exercise
Write the three-line evidence record for this change:
- Verified: the commands you ran and what they proved.
- Not verified: the inputs and behaviors no test pins.
- Known limits: anything you saw that the contract never promised.
Keep it honest — “not verified” is a list of facts, not a confession.
Checkpoint
Run python verify.py. This checkpoint’s code prints only when
both suites pass. You pass the lesson when you can answer:
- What did your by-hand recompute of a group total show?
- Name one input the suite does not pin and what the tool does with it.
- Which hunk, if any, would you ask a colleague to justify?
Expected evidence
Both green runs, your three-line evidence record, and the diff review
notes.