Foundations Track (8 weeks)

For developers new to Rust or those wanting comprehensive ICN mastery. Focus on fundamentals while learning ICN systems through the Meaning Firewall narrative.

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with at least one programming language
• Comfort with command line basics
• Willingness to learn Rust through production code (not toy examples)

Learning Path

Phase 1: Foundations (Weeks 1-2) → Reader Tier

Goal: Build, test, trace flows without friction.

Path files:

1. path/phase-1-foundations/01-environment.md — Workspace navigation, build fluency
2. path/phase-1-foundations/02-rust-through-icn.md — Ownership/borrowing as system invariants
3. path/phase-1-foundations/03-errors-and-tracing.md — Distributed visibility
4. Gate 1 — 4 artifacts (system map, tooling, errors, tiny PR)

Labs: lab-01-workspace, lab-02-error-receipt

Extra focus: Spend more time on Rust concepts. Read annotations in Layer 02 multiple times. Complete additional Rust exercises from The Rust Book chapters 4, 6, 10.

Phase 2: Architecture (Weeks 3-5) → Fixer Tier

Goal: Master the Meaning Firewall — ICN's central design principle.

Path files:

1. path/phase-2-architecture/04-actors-and-concurrency.md — Actor pattern, shutdown coordination
2. path/phase-2-architecture/05-the-meaning-firewall.md — KEYSTONE — PolicyOracle boundary
3. path/phase-2-architecture/06-persistence-and-ledger.md — Storage as time-communication
4. Gate 2 — 4 artifacts (firewall lab, trace diagram, boundary review, lock rationale)

Labs: lab-03-mini-actor, lab-04-firewall-oracle (critical), lab-05-mini-ledger

Extra focus: Lab-04 is the keystone. Spend extra time understanding compile-time boundary enforcement. Redo the lab from scratch if needed.

Phase 3: Systems (Weeks 6-7) → Builder Tier

Goal: Integrate multiple subsystems in features.

Path files:

1. path/phase-3-systems/07-identity-and-crypto.md — Practical cryptography
2. path/phase-3-systems/08-network-and-gossip.md — Eventual consistency
3. path/phase-3-systems/09-governance-and-contracts.md — Democratic rule changes
4. Gate 3 — 3 artifacts (real PR, peer review, teaching artifact)

Labs: lab-06-signed-envelope, lab-07-gossip-sync, lab-08-governance-flow

Extra focus: Ship your first real PR. Ask for review feedback early. Iterate based on maintainer comments.

Phase 4: Ownership (Week 8) → Maintainer Tier

Goal: Review boundary PRs, reshape architecture, mentor.

Path files:

1. path/phase-4-ownership/10-federation-and-ops.md — Production deployment
2. path/phase-4-ownership/11-maintainer.md — Advanced Rust, hot path analysis
3. Capstone — 5 artifacts (deployment, ledger, governance, metrics, persistence)

Labs: Integrate all previous labs into deployed system.

Extra focus: Demonstrate end-to-end mastery. This is your portfolio piece.

Weekly Schedule

Total: 80-100 hours over 8 weeks

Rust Learning Checkpoints

• Week 1: Understand ownership, borrowing, basic error handling
• Week 2: Write small CLI utilities, use Result<T, E> consistently
• Week 3: Understand Arc, RwLock, async/await basics
• Week 4: Reason about trait objects (dyn Trait), lifetimes in signatures
• Week 5: Implement actors with message passing
• Week 6: Read and write production-quality async Rust
• Week 7: Mentor others on Rust basics
• Week 8: Review Rust PRs for correctness and style

Support Resources

• Stuck on Rust? → reference/module-01-rust-fundamentals.md
• Need examples? → patterns.md has code templates
• Questions? → #onboarding channel, ask early and often
• Pair programming: Request pairing sessions with Builders/Maintainers

Next Steps

1. Read docs/onboarding/manual.md for system-first narrative
2. Start with path/phase-1-foundations/01-environment.md
3. Complete labs as you go, don't skip ahead
4. Submit gate artifacts for review before moving to next phase

Welcome to ICN! 🚀