Brummel
525112e32e
Tested the user's bracket-free ideas (indent, YAML) against the annotated-paren result. Hypothesis was that removing the closing token removes the repetition tail. The opposite held. Instrument note (the watch-out paid off twice): a real YAML library auto-quotes and gives *,-,true special meaning, which collides with the AILang operators — Qwen wrote `- *` (multiply), a YAML alias marker, and the library crashed. That is a measurement bug, not a model failure. Rebuilt with a hand-written literal indent parser (atoms verbatim, no quoting); `- *` then round-trips fine. With the instrument fixed, the result is monotone across four formats: format 4 annotated parens 7/8 > plain Form-A parens 6/8 > yamlish indent 3/8 > YAML library 2/8. More explicit structure marking helps this model; less hurts. Qwen's weakness is structure-tracking at depth, and indentation makes it track the nesting itself — as error-prone as matching parens but without the redundant cue. The bracket-free surfaces fail EARLIER (L3/L4), before the L7 repetition ceiling is even reached. Lever for an LLM-authored language: redundant explicit structure (depth- annotated brackets), not a lighter surface. Synthesis in format-findings.md; raw ladders qwen-yaml.md (PyYAML, discarded) and qwen-yamlish.md (own parser).
8.9 KiB
8.9 KiB
Qwen format probe — YAML surface
Model: Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-Next; single-shot; YAML dialect; converted via verified PyYAML round-trip.
L0_const — ✅ green
tokens: prompt=649 completion=58
model YAML:
module:
- m
- fn:
- answer
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Int
- params: []
- body:
- '42'
converted Form-A:
(module m (fn answer (type (fn-type (params) (ret (own (con Int))))) (params) (body 42)))
L1_arith — ❌ yaml-convert
tokens: prompt=651 completion=87
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- fn:
- triple
- type:
- fn-type:
- params:
- own:
- con:
- Int
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Int
- params:
- x
- body:
- app:
- app:
- *
- x
- '3'
yaml-convert:
converter rejected model YAML: while scanning an alias
in "<unicode string>", line 20, column 11:
- *
^
expected alphabetic or numeric character, but found '\n'
in "<unicode string>", line 20, column 12:
- *
^
L2_print — ❌ yaml-convert
tokens: prompt=646 completion=94
model YAML:
module:
- demo_c
- fn:
- m
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Unit
- effects:
- IO
- params: []
- body:
- seq:
- app:
- print
- '7
- do:
- io/print_str
- '"\n"'
yaml-convert:
converter rejected model YAML: while parsing a block mapping
in "<unicode string>", line 17, column 9:
- app:
^
expected <block end>, but found '<scalar>'
in "<unicode string>", line 22, column 12:
- '"\n"'
^
L3_adt — ✅ green
tokens: prompt=665 completion=136
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- data:
- Light
- ctor:
- Red
- ctor:
- Green
- fn:
- code
- type:
- fn-type:
- params:
- own:
- con:
- Light
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Int
- params:
- l
- body:
- match:
- l
- case:
- pat-ctor:
- Red
- '0'
- case:
- pat-ctor:
- Green
- '1'
converted Form-A:
(module demo_m (data Light (ctor Red) (ctor Green)) (fn code (type (fn-type (params (own (con Light))) (ret (own (con Int))))) (params l) (body (match l (case (pat-ctor Red) 0) (case (pat-ctor Green) 1)))))
L4_rec — ❌ yaml-convert
tokens: prompt=677 completion=359
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- data:
- IntList
- ctor:
- Nil
- ctor:
- Cons
- con:
- Int
- con:
- IntList
- fn:
- length
- type:
- fn-type:
- params:
- own:
- con:
- IntList
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Int
- params:
- xs
- body:
- match:
- xs
- case:
- pat-ctor:
- Nil
- '0'
- case:
- pat-ctor:
- Cons
- h
- t
- app:
- +
- '1'
- app:
- length
- t
- fn:
- main
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Unit
- effects:
- IO
- params: []
- body:
- let:
- xs
- term-ctor:
- IntList
- Cons
- '1'
- term-ctor:
- IntList
- Cons
- '2'
- term-ctor:
- IntList
- Cons
- '3'
- term-ctor:
- IntList
- Nil
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- length
- xs
- do:
- io/print_str
- '"\n"
yaml-convert:
converter rejected model YAML: while scanning a quoted scalar
in "<unicode string>", line 83, column 11:
- '"\n"
^
found unexpected end of stream
in "<unicode string>", line 83, column 16:
- '"\n"
^
L5_series_len — ❌ check
tokens: prompt=945 completion=215
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- fn:
- main
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Unit
- effects:
- IO
- params: []
- body:
- let:
- s
- new:
- Series
- con:
- Float
- '3'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '1.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '2.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '3.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- Series.len
- s
- do:
- io/print_str
- '"\n"'
converted Form-A:
(module demo_m (fn main (type (fn-type (params) (ret (own (con Unit))) (effects IO))) (params) (body (let s (new Series (con Float) 3)) (let s (app Series.push s 1.0)) (let s (app Series.push s 2.0)) (let s (app Series.push s 3.0)) (seq (app print) (app Series.len) s) (do io/print_str "\n"))))
check:
error: [surface-parse-error] parse error: expected term, got `)` at byte 134
L6_series_at — ❌ check
tokens: prompt=953 completion=226
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- fn:
- main
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Unit
- effects:
- IO
- params: []
- body:
- let:
- s
- new:
- Series
- con:
- Float
- '3'
- let:
- s1
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '1.0'
- let:
- s2
- app:
- Series.push
- s1
- '2.0'
- let:
- s3
- app:
- Series.push
- s2
- '3.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- Series.at
- s3
- '0'
- do:
- io/print_str
- '"\n"'
converted Form-A:
(module demo_m (fn main (type (fn-type (params) (ret (own (con Unit))) (effects IO))) (params) (body (let s (new Series (con Float) 3)) (let s1 (app Series.push s 1.0)) (let s2 (app Series.push s1 2.0)) (let s3 (app Series.push s2 3.0)) (seq (app print) (app Series.at) s3 0) (do io/print_str "\n"))))
check:
error: [surface-parse-error] parse error: expected term, got `)` at byte 134
L7_sma — ❌ check
tokens: prompt=1036 completion=469
model YAML:
module:
- demo_m
- fn:
- main
- type:
- fn-type:
- params: []
- ret:
- own:
- con:
- Unit
- effects:
- IO
- params: []
- body:
- let:
- s
- new:
- Series
- con:
- Float
- '3'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '1.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '5.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- /
- app:
- Series.sum
- s
- '3.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '3.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- /
- app:
- Series.sum
- s
- '3.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '8.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- /
- app:
- Series.sum
- s
- '3.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '6.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- /
- app:
- Series.sum
- s
- '3.0'
- let:
- s
- app:
- Series.push
- s
- '2.0'
- seq:
- app:
- print
- app:
- /
- app:
- Series.sum
- s
- '3.0'
- do:
- io/print_str
- '"\n"'
converted Form-A:
(module demo_m (fn main (type (fn-type (params) (ret (own (con Unit))) (effects IO))) (params) (body (let s (new Series (con Float) 3)) (let s (app Series.push s 1.0)) (let s (app Series.push s 5.0)) (seq (app print) (app /) (app Series.sum) s 3.0) (let s (app Series.push) s 3.0) (seq (app print) (app /) (app Series.sum) s 3.0) (let s (app Series.push) s 8.0) (seq (app print) (app /) (app Series.sum) s 3.0) (let s (app Series.push) s 6.0) (seq (app print) (app /) (app Series.sum) s 3.0) (let s (app Series.push) s 2.0) (seq (app print) (app /) (app Series.sum) s 3.0) (do io/print_str "\n"))))
check:
error: [surface-parse-error] parse error: expected term, got `)` at byte 134
Ladder
- L0_const: ✅ green
- L1_arith: ❌ yaml-convert
- L2_print: ❌ yaml-convert
- L3_adt: ✅ green
- L4_rec: ❌ yaml-convert
- L5_series_len: ❌ check
- L6_series_at: ❌ check
- L7_sma: ❌ check