Sources worth spending time with.
Choose a resource for the next question you need to answer. The lessons stand on their own; external reading is a way to deepen them. Links do not imply affiliation or endorsement.
Books and courses
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python
Start here for useful small scripts. Read the basics before the file and automation chapters. Use the examples to learn the operations; do not run unfamiliar file-changing code on an original collection.
The Illustrated Transformer
A deeper visual explanation of attention. Begin after the tokens lesson. Its original encoder–decoder model is a historical starting point; modern language-model architectures vary.
Hands-On Large Language Models
For readers ready for an illustrated technical treatment and code. The linked author site describes the book and provides companion resources; the full paid text was not the basis for these lessons.
Hugging Face LLM Course
Use selected explanations for deeper understanding. The full course expects good Python knowledge and is better approached after introductory deep learning; it is not the first step for a nontechnical reader.
Practical Deep Learning for Coders
A practical route into building models, starting from working examples. The course states a coding prerequisite. Choose it after you can read and modify small programs, rather than expecting a no-code introduction.
The Odin Project
Useful if you want to build interfaces and understand web applications. Its ordered projects teach a broader development skill set; the legal AI library does not require completing it.
Sources behind the lessons
88 referencesEach lesson identifies what its links support. Labels distinguish official material from commentary and teaching resources. A link is not a whole-page verification. Check the current text and the scope of each source before relying on it.
Hugging Face · How do Transformers work?Course +
Language-model training, inference, and the distinction between pretraining and further training.
Read the sourceJay Alammar · The Illustrated TransformerVisual explanation +
An intuitive introduction to numerical representations and attention. The original encoder–decoder architecture is historical; modern models vary.
Read the sourceHugging Face · TokenizersCourse +
Tokenization, numerical IDs, and subword representations.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Effective context engineering for AI agentsEngineering article +
Selecting and maintaining context, rather than merely accumulating conversation and tool outputs.
Read the sourceLiu et al. · Lost in the Middle (2023)Research paper +
Position-sensitive performance in the specific long-context tasks and models studied; not a current benchmark for all models.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Bias and limitationsCourse +
Limitations of pretrained models and the persistence of bias.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Prompting best practicesDocumentation +
Clear instructions, examples, and separating instructions from context. Consult the current linked guidance for model-specific details.
Read the sourceChacon & Straub · Pro Git: About Version ControlBook chapter +
Recording changes, comparing versions, and restoring prior states.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Effective harnesses for long-running agentsEngineering article +
Explicit progress records and recoverable artifacts across sessions.
Read the sourceLewis et al. · Retrieval-Augmented Generation (2020)Research paper +
The original research architecture combining retrieval with generation. Modern application pipelines may differ.
Read the sourcePyMuPDF · Text extraction recipesDocumentation +
Text extraction, reading-order limitations, layout, and tables.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Building effective agentsEngineering article +
Distinguishing workflows from agents and decomposing tasks into controlled stages. Architectural concepts are more durable than its tool examples.
Read the sourceHarvey · Official release notesProduct documentation +
Review Table functionality and changes. Feature availability depends on the account and current product.
Read the sourceHugging Face Audio Course · Speech recognition modelsCourse +
Speech recognition as a separate model task from subsequent rewriting.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Equipping agents with Agent SkillsEngineering article +
Packaging reusable instructions and resources, with information loaded as needed.
Read the sourceOWASP · LLM01 Prompt InjectionSecurity guidance +
Direct and indirect prompt injection and layered mitigation concepts.
Read the sourceOCRmyPDF · CookbookDocumentation +
OCR commands, rotation, deskew, sidecar limitations, and precautions around image processing and signed PDFs.
Read the sourceSentence Transformers · Semantic SearchDocumentation +
Embedding-based passage retrieval and similarity search.
Read the sourceSentence Transformers · Retrieve & Re-RankDocumentation +
A candidate-retrieval stage followed by a more focused relevance-ranking stage.
Read the sourceLangChain · RetrievalDocumentation +
Retrieval in application and agent architectures; inspect the implementation actually used.
Read the sourceSQLite · Foreign Key SupportDocumentation +
Referential relationships and enabling foreign-key enforcement.
Read the sourcePyTorch · TensorsCourse +
Numerical arrays, tensor operations, and device placement.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Quantization overviewDocumentation +
Lower-precision numerical representations and memory tradeoffs.
Read the sourceOllama · Context lengthDocumentation +
Configured context and its relationship to memory requirements.
Read the sourceOllama · QuickstartDocumentation +
Installation entry point and basic local inference workflow.
Read the sourceOllama · CLI referenceDocumentation +
Running, listing, and inspecting local models.
Read the sourceOllama · FAQOfficial documentation +
ollama ps and the PROCESSOR column, model storage locations, and disabling cloud features.
Read the sourceggml-org · llama.cppProject documentation +
Local inference implementation, formats, and supported hardware backends.
Read the sourcePython · pathlibDocumentation +
Filesystem paths, file traversal, and file metadata.
Read the sourcePython · csvDocumentation +
CSV writing and quoting values correctly.
Read the sourceAl Sweigart · Automate the Boring Stuff: Reading and Writing FilesBook chapter +
Further study of paths and file operations through practical programming examples.
Read the sourceMDN · Overview of HTTPDocumentation +
Client–server requests and responses.
Read the sourcePython · jsonDocumentation +
Encoding and decoding JSON data.
Read the sourcePython · urllib.requestDocumentation +
Constructing and sending HTTP requests from Python.
Read the sourceOllama · API usageDocumentation +
Local API usage; the linked API documentation covers endpoint payloads and streaming.
Read the sourcePython · sqlite3Documentation +
In-memory databases, parameterized statements, and Python's SQLite interface.
Read the sourceHugging Face PEFT · LoRADocumentation +
Parameter-efficient adaptation using trainable update matrices with frozen original weights.
Read the sourceDocker · What is a container?Documentation +
Containers and their role in packaging and running applications.
Read the sourceDocker · VolumesDocumentation +
Persistence beyond a container's lifecycle; backup and restore require deliberate design.
Read the sourceAnthropic · Demystifying evals for AI agentsEngineering article +
Defined tasks, graders, repeated trials, traces, and evaluating actual outcomes.
Read the sourceLaw Society of Ontario · Using technologyProfessional guidance +
Entry point to current professional technology and generative-AI guidance. Linked resource listing located 15 October 2026; the page blocked automated full-text access.
Read the sourcePyTorch · Optimizing model parametersCourse +
Loss, gradients, and optimization in a training loop.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Text generation inferenceCourse +
Decoding, sampling, and generation settings.
Read the sourceClaude Code · How Claude remembers your projectDocumentation +
Persistent project instructions and their distinction from enforced configuration. Reviewed 15 October 2026.
Read the sourceLaw Society of Ontario · Licensee use of generative artificial intelligence (white paper, April 2024)Professional guidance +
How the Rules of Professional Conduct apply to generative-AI-assisted work: competence, confidentiality, supervision, and candour. The paper is guidance, not a rule.
Read the sourceOntario Bar Association · Recent amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure (O. Reg. 384/24)Professional commentary +
The 1 December 2024 amendments adding certification of the authenticity of authorities for factums (r. 4.06.1) and expert reports (r. 53.03), and the presumption for authorities from recognized sources. Confirm the current rule text before filing.
Read the sourceOsler · Artificial advocacy: how Canadian courts and legislators are responding to generative AIProfessional commentary +
A survey of certification and disclosure requirements across Canadian courts and of early decisions on fabricated citations, including Zhang v. Chen, 2024 BCSC 285. Requirements change; verify the current notice for the relevant court.
Read the sourceTorkin Manes · AI gone awry: the unauthorized use of AI in courts (Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2766)Professional commentary +
A summary of Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2766, and of the Federal Court notice on the use of AI in court proceedings (updated May 2024). Read the decision itself before relying on any proposition from it.
Read the sourceGowling WLG · Artificial intelligence in public decision-making: guidelines, jurisprudence and open questionsProfessional commentary +
Summaries of the Canadian Judicial Council Guidelines for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Canadian Courts (24 October 2024) and the Federal Court interim principles on its own use of AI (September 2025).
Read the sourceAmerican College of Trial Lawyers · Canadian cases involving improper use of AI in court proceedings (compilation)Reference compilation +
A compilation of Canadian decisions in which courts addressed fabricated or unverified AI-generated material. Useful as a catalogue of fact patterns; read each decision before citing it.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · README (quick start, supported backends)Official documentation +
Install routes, the llama cli and llama serve quick start, supported backends, and CPU+GPU hybrid inference.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · Install pre-built version (docs/install.md)Official documentation +
winget, Homebrew, and conda-forge install commands.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · Build llama.cpp locally (docs/build.md)Official documentation +
CMake build commands for CPU, CUDA, Vulkan, HIP, and Metal, and the Metal --n-gpu-layers 0 note.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · CLI options (tools/cli/README.md)Official documentation +
Flags including -hf, -ngl (auto or all), --list-devices, --offline, --cpu-moe, and KV cache types.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · Server (tools/server/README.md)Official documentation +
llama-server defaults (host 127.0.0.1, port 9931) and the LLAMA_CACHE model cache.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · llama-bench (tools/llama-bench/README.md)Official documentation +
Benchmark syntax: prompt-processing (pp) and text-generation (tg) tests.
Read the sourcellama.cpp · Releases (build b11687, 16 October 2026)Official documentation +
Pre-built binaries for Windows CUDA, Vulkan, ROCm, and CPU, macOS, and Linux.
Read the sourceOllama · README (install and run)Official documentation +
Install commands for macOS, Linux, and Windows and the ollama run command.
Read the sourceOllama · WindowsOfficial documentation +
Windows requirements: NVIDIA driver 551.61+, AMD ROCm v7 or Vulkan; OLLAMA_MODELS.
Read the sourceOllama · Hardware supportOfficial documentation +
Supported NVIDIA compute capabilities and AMD Radeon models by platform.
Read the sourceLM Studio · System requirementsOfficial documentation +
Apple Silicon and macOS 14+; Windows x64 with AVX2 or ARM; 16 GB RAM and 4 GB VRAM recommended.
Read the sourceLM Studio · lms CLIOfficial documentation +
lms ls, lms ps, lms load --gpu, and lms server start.
Read the sourceLM Studio · Import modelsOfficial documentation +
The ~/.lmstudio/models directory structure.
Read the sourceApple ML Explore · mlx-lm READMEOfficial documentation +
pip install mlx-lm, mlx_lm.generate and mlx_lm.chat on Apple silicon.
Read the sourceOpen WebUI · READMEOfficial documentation +
pip install open-webui (Python 3.11) and open-webui serve on localhost:8080.
Read the sourceAnythingLLM · READMEOfficial documentation +
Desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux; built-in local engine; connects to Ollama and LM Studio.
Read the sourcevLLM · READMEOfficial documentation +
uv pip install vllm; serving-oriented engine.
Read the sourceMicrosoft Learn · New-NetFirewallRuleOfficial documentation +
Creating outbound block rules by program in Windows Firewall with PowerShell.
Read the sourceNVIDIA · Compare GeForce graphics cardsOfficial documentation +
Memory size, bus width, and memory bandwidth for the GeForce RTX 50 series.
Read the sourceNVIDIA · GeForce RTX 5090 specificationsOfficial documentation +
575 W total graphics power, 1,000 W required system power, power connector options.
Read the sourceAMD · Radeon AI PRO R9700 specificationsOfficial documentation +
32 GB GDDR6, 256-bit, 640 GB/s, 300 W, 750 W PSU recommendation.
Read the sourceApple Canada · Mac Studio technical specificationsOfficial documentation +
Unified memory options and memory bandwidth for M5 Max and M5 Ultra.
Read the sourceApple Canada · Mac mini technical specificationsOfficial documentation +
Unified memory options and memory bandwidth for M6 and M5 Pro.
Read the sourceAMD · Ryzen AI Max+ 395 specificationsOfficial documentation +
256-bit LPDDR5x-8000 memory, up to 128 GB, Radeon 8060S graphics.
Read the sourceNVIDIA · DGX Spark specificationsOfficial documentation +
64 or 128 GB unified LPDDR5x, 256-bit, 273 GB/s.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Mistral Small 3.2 24B config and GGUF filesModel card +
40 layers, 8 KV heads, head dimension 128; GGUF Q4_K_M 14.33 GB and Q8_0 25.05 GB in the lmstudio-community repository.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Qwen3.6-35B-A3B model cardModel card +
35B total, 3B activated, 256 experts with 8 routed and 1 shared; Apache 2.0.
Read the sourceHugging Face · gpt-oss model cardModel card +
gpt-oss-20b: 21B parameters with 3.6B active; gpt-oss-120b: 117B with 5.1B active; Apache 2.0.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Gemma 4 model cardModel card +
Dense and mixture-of-experts sizes; 26B A4B with 3.8B active; Apache 2.0.
Read the sourceHugging Face · Qwen3.5-0.8B GGUF (ggml-org)Model card +
The small model used for the measured benchmark in lesson 9.9.
Read the sourceOntario SCJ — Consolidated Civil Provincial Practice Direction, Part J.12, paras122–128Official court direction +
AI oversight and verification; paragraph125 reproduces factum certification rule. Updated March17 2026; civil scope excludes Divisional and Small Claims proceedings. Primary page checked16 October2026.
Read the sourceFederal Court — AI notice, May7 2024, pp1–2Official court notice +
Declaration for directly AI-generated litigation content; suggestions/critique distinction and separate treatment of tribunal records/expert reports. Primary notice checked16 October2026; recheck before filing.
Read the sourceOntario Rules of Civil Procedure — r4.06.1Primary legislation — current text to check +
Factum authenticity certification and listed-source presumption. Direct e-Laws access was blocked in this review; relevant rule wording checked in official SCJ practice direction para125.
Read the sourceFederal Court — interim principles for its own AI useOfficial court policy +
Court-specific policy, distinct from the notice to litigants. Do not treat it as permission for another court or as legal advice.
Read the sourceOpenAI · A practical guide to building agentsPrimary documentation +
Conceptual foundations and starting with a bounded agent. Webpage dated January 15, 2026. Legal examples and illustrative traces are independent Case & Code additions, not executed SDK examples.
Read the sourceOpenAI Agents SDK · Running agentsPrimary documentation +
Runner loop, tool results, handoffs, final output, and maximum turns. A terminated run does not establish task correctness. Reviewed October 16, 2026.
Read the sourceOpenAI Agents SDK · Human-in-the-loopPrimary documentation +
Configured approval interruptions before tool execution; not a guarantee that every platform or tool requests approval. Reviewed October 16, 2026.
Read the sourceOpenAI Agents SDK · HandoffsPrimary documentation +
Transfer of control, configurable history, and distinction from agents used as tools. Reviewed October 16, 2026.
Read the source