Update expert analysis to reflect final baseline design decision

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Vijay Janapa Reddi
2025-11-20 00:18:15 -05:00
parent 97e0563614
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@@ -64,25 +64,27 @@ Based on research into MLPerf, SPEC benchmarks, and educational ML frameworks, h
3. **Progressive**: Run milestones as students complete modules
4. **Transparency**: Show what's reference vs student code
## Recommendation
## Final Decision
**Your Original Vision is Correct!**
**Keep Current Baseline Approach**
**Milestone-based setup validation with reference fallback**:
- ✅ Aligns with MLPerf/SPEC practices
- ✅ Follows educational framework best practices
- ✅ Creates better student experience
- ✅ Provides meaningful baseline results
After analysis, we decided to keep the current fast baseline approach (~1 second) rather than milestone-based validation:
**Implementation**:
1. Add reference fallback to milestones (PyTorch if `tinytorch.*` fails)
2. Run milestones at setup with reference implementation
3. Generate normalized baseline results
4. Students later run with THEIR code and compare
**Why**:
- ✅ Fast setup validation (no time concerns)
- ✅ Doesn't require student code
- ✅ Normalized to reference system (SPEC-style)
- ✅ Meaningful baseline results
- ✅ Perfect for "Hello World" moment
**Milestones stay separate**:
- Run as students complete modules
- Optional for community submission
- Better for progressive validation
See `BASELINE_SUBMISSION_DESIGN.md` for complete design rationale.
## Conclusion
**Expert consensus**: Milestone-based validation with reference fallback is the right approach for educational ML frameworks. It aligns with industry standards (MLPerf, SPEC) and educational best practices.
**Your original idea was correct!** The challenge is implementation, not concept.
**Expert research validated**: Both approaches (quick baseline and milestone-based) align with industry standards. We chose quick baseline for practical reasons (speed, simplicity) while maintaining educational best practices.