Init

Init — Profile & Workspace Setup

Overview

Set up your personalized learning environment. This skill interviews you, creates a GitHub repo as your workspace, and calibrates your starting levels with a diagnostic quiz.

Prerequisites

• gh CLI installed and authenticated (gh auth status)
• git configured

Flow

Step 1: Check Prerequisites

Before anything else, verify:

gh auth status
git config user.name

If gh is not authenticated, tell the user to run gh auth login first.

Step 2: Profile Interview

Ask these questions one at a time, wait for each answer:

1. "What name or handle should I use for your profile?"

2. "Which topics are you interested in learning?" Options (multi-select):

   • A) Electrical Engineering
   • B) Embedded Programming
   • C) Networking
   • D) Go Internals (runtime, GC, scheduler, compiler)
   • E) Python Internals (CPython bytecode, GIL, object model, C API)
   • F) TypeScript Internals (compiler pipeline, type system, tooling)
   • G) JS Engine Internals (V8 objects, JIT, event loop, GC)
   • H) All of the above (Also accept free-form topics — store them for future expansion)

3. For each selected topic, ask sub-topic self-assessment:

   For Electrical Engineering:

   • "How would you rate yourself in EE fundamentals (Ohm's law, KVL/KCL, basic components)? none / beginner / intermediate / advanced"
   • "Analog circuits (op-amps, filters, amplifiers)?"
   • "Digital logic (gates, flip-flops, state machines)?"
   • "PCB/practical (schematics, component selection, datasheets)?"

   For Embedded Programming:

   • "C fundamentals (pointers, memory, structs, bit manipulation)?"
   • "Bare metal (registers, GPIO, timers, interrupts)?"
   • "Peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C, ADC/DAC)?"
   • "RTOS concepts (tasks, scheduling, synchronization)?"
   • "Lower level (assembly, linker scripts, startup code)?"

   For Networking:

   • "Fundamentals (OSI model, TCP/IP, addressing)?"
   • "Protocols (HTTP, DNS, DHCP, ARP, ICMP)?"
   • "Hands-on (socket programming, packet analysis)?"
   • "Infrastructure (routing, switching, VLANs, subnetting)?"

   For Go Internals:

   • "Fundamentals (memory model, slice/map/string layout, escape analysis)?"
   • "Runtime (GMP scheduler, goroutines, channel internals)?"
   • "GC & allocator (tri-color mark, mcache/mcentral/mheap, write barriers)?"
   • "Compiler & SSA (go/parser, AST, SSA passes, codegen)?"

   For Python Internals:

   • "Fundamentals (PyObject, refcount, object model, dict impl)?"
   • "Bytecode & ceval (dis module, ceval.c loop, frame objects)?"
   • "GC & GIL (cyclic GC, GIL, PEP 703, PEP 659 adaptive interpreter)?"
   • "C extensions (C API, capsules, buffer protocol)?"

   For TypeScript Internals:

   • "Fundamentals (structural typing, widening/narrowing, inference)?"
   • "Compiler pipeline (scanner → parser → binder → checker → emitter)?"
   • "Type system (conditional types, variance, mapped types)?"
   • "Tooling (language service, incremental builds, project references)?"

   For JS Engine Internals:

   • "Fundamentals (event loop, microtasks, call stack, value representation)?"
   • "V8 objects (hidden classes/shapes, inline caches, SMI tagging)?"
   • "JIT pipeline (Ignition → Sparkplug → Maglev → TurboFan, deopt)?"
   • "GC (Scavenger, Mark-Compact, incremental marking)?"

4. "How do you prefer to learn?"

   • A) Theory first, then practice
   • B) Hands-on first, theory as needed
   • C) Mixed — alternate between both

5. "How much time do you want to commit?"

   • A) Casual — a few sessions per week
   • B) Regular — most days
   • C) Intense — daily deep sessions

Step 3: Create Learning Repo

1. Ask: "Where should I create your learning workspace? (default: ~/learning/)"

2. Generate 3 fun repo name suggestions based on the user's profile. Examples:

   • If EE-focused: spark-and-solder, ohms-playground, circuit-dojo
   • If embedded-focused: bitwise-battleground, register-rumble, bare-metal-forge
   • If networking-focused: packet-sorcery, subnet-ninja, protocol-dungeon
   • If mixed: electron-hacker-lab, signal-to-noise, full-stack-voltage

   Ask: "Pick a repo name or suggest your own:" then list the 3 suggestions.

3. Create the repo:

gh repo create <repo-name> --public --clone --description "My lutherskills learning workspace"
cd <repo-name>

4. Initialize the workspace structure:

Create profile.json:

{
  "name": "<user's name>",
  "handle": "<user's handle>",
  "created": "<today's date YYYY-MM-DD>",
  "learning_style": "<theory-first|hands-on-first|mixed>",
  "time_commitment": "<casual|regular|intense>",
  "repo_path": "<absolute path to repo>",
  "topics": {
    "<topic-id>": {
      "level": "none",
      "sub_topics": {
        "<sub-topic-id>": {
          "level": "<self-assessed level>",
          "challenges_completed": 0,
          "avg_score": 0
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "stats": {
    "total_challenges": 0,
    "total_quizzes": 0,
    "magic_points": 0,
    "streak_days": 0,
    "last_active": "<today's date>"
  }
}

Only include topics the user selected. Sub-topic structure per topic:

electrical-engineering: fundamentals, analog-circuits, digital-logic, pcb-practical embedded-programming: c-fundamentals, bare-metal, peripherals, rtos-concepts, lower-level networking: fundamentals, protocols, hands-on, infrastructure golang-internals: fundamentals, runtime, gc-allocator, compiler-ssa python-internals: fundamentals, bytecode-ceval, gc-gil, c-extensions typescript-internals: fundamentals, compiler-pipeline, type-system, tooling js-engine-internals: fundamentals, v8-objects, jit-pipeline, gc

Create directories (only for selected topics):

mkdir -p challenges/<topic> projects notes

Baseline set always created: challenges/magic, projects/, notes/.

Create .gitignore:

.DS_Store
*.swp
*~

5. Initial commit:

git add -A
git commit -m "feat: initialize learning workspace"
git push -u origin main

Step 4: Baseline Diagnostic Quiz

For each selected topic, run a 5-question diagnostic quiz to calibrate levels:

• Questions should span the sub-topics at beginner level
• Use multiple choice (A/B/C/D)
• Ask one question at a time
• Track correct/incorrect

After the quiz, adjust profile.json sub-topic levels:

• 0-1 correct in a sub-topic area → keep at "none"
• 2-3 correct → set to "beginner"
• 4+ correct → set to "intermediate"

Update and commit:

git add profile.json
git commit -m "feat: calibrate initial levels from diagnostic"
git push

Step 5: Welcome Message

Show a summary:

• Profile overview
• Starting levels per topic
• Suggested first /lutherskills:learn topic based on levels

Common Mistakes

• Don't skip the diagnostic — self-assessment is often inaccurate
• Don't create the repo without gh auth status passing first
• Always commit after profile changes