Files
AILang/design/contracts/roundtrip-invariant.md
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Brummel bcd41810f4 design/ + source rustdoc: replace opaque shorthand with content phrases + links
Reader-facing prose and rustdoc carried opaque shorthand like
"Decision 10", "clause-5", "mq.1", "ct.1", "eob.1", "rpe.1",
"post-mq.3", and "Iter 22b.1:" with no in-repo definition the reader
could follow. This commit replaces every such occurrence in the
durable tier the reader is most likely to land on (design/ ledger +
source //! module headers + the central /// public-item rustdoc) with
an inline content phrase plus, where applicable, a Markdown link to
the file that defines the referenced concept.

design/ ledger — 16 files:
  Definition-site headings demoted from "Decision N: <title>" to
  "<title>": authoring-surface, tail-calls, memory-model section in
  rc-uniqueness.md, dual-allocator section, typeclass design,
  effects "pure core + algebraic effects".
  Cross-reference sites: "Decision 1" -> canonical-schema principle
  (data-model); "Decision 3/4" -> effects + scope-boundaries; "Decision
  6" -> authoring-surface; "Decision 8" -> tail-calls; "Decision 9" ->
  rc-uniqueness (dual-allocator); "Decision 10" -> memory-model;
  "Decision 11" -> typeclasses (model). "clause-5" -> body-link
  durability gate. "clause-3" (in language-constraints) ->
  bug-class-reintroduction discriminator. "mq.1/2/3", "ct.1/4",
  "eob.1", "rpe.1" -> the canonical-form rule / the type-driven
  dispatch / the Str carve-out / etc. "post-mq.3" -> "type-driven".

design/contracts/feature-acceptance.md: file-local "clauses 1/2/3"
-> "criteria 1/2/3" (sprachliche Kohärenz mit der File-Überschrift
"Feature-acceptance criterion"); "the clause-3 mechanism" -> "the
bug-class-reintroduction discriminator".

Source //! module headers — 24 files:
  Stripped "Iter X.Y:" prefixes and "(Decision N)" / "(mq.X)" tags
  from spec_drift, uniqueness, reuse_shape, migrate_canonical_types,
  typeclass_22b{2,3,c}, suppress_filter, lift, mono, linearity,
  diagnostic, method_dispatch_pin, method_collision_pin,
  no_per_type_print_ops, mq3_multi_class_e2e, print_mono_body_shape,
  print_no_leak_pin, cli_diag_human_workspace_load_error,
  ct1_check_cli, prose snapshot, unbound_in_instance_method_pin,
  mono_xmod_ctor_pattern, desugar.

Central /// public-item rustdoc:
  ast.rs (full sweep — every "Iter X" + "Decision N" prefix
  reformulated; mode/Type::Fn rustdoc now points at memory-model.md;
  Constraint / SuperclassRef / InstanceDef / ClassDef rustdoc points
  at typeclasses contract).
  diagnostic.rs (all "(Iter X)" / "(mq.X)" tags on diagnostic codes
  removed).
  lib.rs (FORM_A_SPEC rustdoc points at authoring-surface.md
  instead of "Decision 6").
  canonical.rs (type_hash + Float-literal rustdoc).

Still outstanding (for a follow-up commit): ~500 inline `//`
code-body comments with `Iter X.Y` markers across the workspace, and
a handful of `///` rustdoc items in hash_pin / workspace_pin / lift /
mono / suppress_filter test-pin and internal-function bodies. Code
identifiers (test filenames like `mq3_multi_class_e2e.rs`, function
names like `iter18e_drop_iterative_default_preserves_hashes`) stay
verbatim per the user's "code identifiers stay verbatim" rule.

Tests: design_index_pin 5/5 + docs_honesty_pin 5/5; workspace builds
clean; full `cargo test --workspace` previously green (every
`test result: ok` line, no FAILED line).
2026-05-20 09:47:33 +02:00

100 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown

# Roundtrip Invariant
## Roundtrip Invariant
Every well-formed AILang module has a canonical `.ail.json`
representation (the hashable, content-addressed
[JSON-AST](data-model.md)) and a hand-authored `.ail` representation
(Form A, the [authoring projection](authoring-surface.md)). The
JSON-AST is derived from `.ail` in-process by consumers that need
it; the round-trip is now the *property* of that derivation, not
the byte-level agreement of two on-disk forms.
Concretely:
1. **Parse-determinism.** For every well-formed `.ail` text `t`,
`ailang_surface::parse(t)` produces a unique AST. The parser is
a pure function of input — no randomness, no time dependence,
no environment leak. Hashing `canonical::to_bytes(parse(t))` is
therefore well-defined for any `.ail` source.
2. **Idempotency under print.** For every well-formed `.ail` text
`t`, `canonical(parse(t)) == canonical(parse(print(parse(t))))`.
The printer is a left-inverse of the parser modulo canonical
form: print-then-parse is a no-op on the canonical bytes.
3. **CLI-pipeline idempotency.** For every `.ail` fixture, the
public CLI pipeline `ail parse | ail render | ail parse` is
byte-identical to direct `ail parse` of the source `.ail`.
Pins drift that crate-internal tests cannot see.
4. **Carve-out anchor.** Seven `.ail.json`-only fixtures
(subject-matter rejection tests) survive in the corpus by
structural necessity. They participate in their own dedicated
rejection-shape tests, not in the round-trip gate. (The prelude is
embedded as `examples/prelude.ail` in `ailang-surface` and parsed
at compile time via `ailang_surface::parse_prelude`.)
Hashing is the consequence the language depends on: BLAKE3 of the
canonical bytes is well-defined for any `.ail` source via parse-
determinism. An LLM author writes `.ail`; the build derives the
canonical hash without ambiguity.
### Float literals are inside the invariant
Float literals carry an IEEE-754 bit pattern, not a decimal
approximation. The canonical encoding is
`{"kind":"float","bits":"<16-lowercase-hex>"}` and the surface
emits the same bits-hex string. NaN, ±Inf, signed zero, and subnormals all
round-trip exactly because the JSON-number path is bypassed (see
[Float semantics](float-semantics.md), "Form-A serialisation").
Floats are not an exception to the invariant — the bits-hex
encoding is the mechanism that keeps them *inside* it.
### Enforcement
The invariant is workspace-CI-enforced by five tests, each
operating on the `examples/` corpus via dynamic `read_dir`
collection (no hardcoded fixture list, so newly added fixtures
inherit the gate automatically):
- `crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs::parse_is_deterministic_over_every_ail_fixture`
— for every `.ail`, parse twice and assert canonical-byte
equality between the two ASTs. Direction 1 above.
- `crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs::parse_then_print_then_parse_is_idempotent_on_every_ail_fixture`
— for every `.ail` text `t`, `parse(t)` and `parse(print(parse(t)))`
produce canonical-byte-equal AST. Direction 2 above.
- `crates/ail/tests/roundtrip_cli.rs::cli_parse_then_render_then_parse_is_idempotent`
— for every `.ail`, the public CLI pipeline `ail parse | ail render | ail parse`
reproduces canonical bytes byte-identical to direct `ail parse`.
Pins drift internal tests cannot see.
- `crates/ailang-core/tests/schema_coverage.rs::every_ast_variant_is_observed_in_the_fixture_corpus`
— every variant of `Def`, `Term`, `Pattern`, `Literal`, `Type`,
and `ParamMode` appears in at least one `.ail` fixture. New AST
variants fail compile until the visitor and corpus are extended
in lockstep.
- `crates/ailang-core/tests/carve_out_inventory.rs::examples_ail_json_inventory_matches_carve_outs`
— exactly the seven named carve-out files exist under
`examples/*.ail.json` at any commit. A new `.ail.json` or a
missing carve-out fails the test.
A new fixture or a new AST variant that violates the invariant
fails one of these tests; the fix is in render or parse code,
never by relaxing the test.
### Why this is anchored at top level
The invariant is a property of the language identity, not of any
one surface-design choice. The [authoring surface](authoring-surface.md)
introduces the `.ail` surface and lists round-trip-as-property as
one of its constraints, but the property is load-bearing for every
downstream concern that treats the two forms as exchangeable:
content-addressed hashing, the LLM-author's choice of authoring
form, the integrity of fixture cross-references, and the
prerequisite for empirical cross-model authoring-form studies.
Lifting it out of the authoring-surface contract makes the property
quotable on its own and reviewable by the architect agent at every
milestone close.
Ratified by: `crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs`.