Brummel
176821c2e7
The 3020-line docs/DESIGN.md is replaced by the design/ ledger:
design/INDEX.md (sole addressable spine, typed Contracts+Models tables,
polymorphic links — prose file OR authoritative source //!), 14
design/contracts/*.md test-linked invariants + 3 source-link-only
contracts (mangling/env-construction/qualified-xref, no prose file —
code is SoT), 5 design/models/*.md whitepapers, and
docs/journals/2026-05-19-design-decision-records.md (the
relitigation-guard archive — every why/rejected/does-not-do/rollback/
empirical ### moved out at ###-granularity). Clean cut: git rm
docs/DESIGN.md, no stub.
RED-first crates/ailang-core/tests/design_index_pin.rs — the 4-clause
anti-regrowth spine (DESIGN.md-gone / every-INDEX-link-resolves /
every-contract-names-a-resolvable-ratifier /
contracts-carry-no-decision-record-prose) — demonstrably RED before,
GREEN after. Build-atomic by task ordering: design_schema_drift.rs's
include_str! (the only compile-time consumer) retargeted to
design/contracts/data-model.md BEFORE the deletion; its
## Data model/## Pipeline slicer dropped (a simplification the split
enables). 2 NoInstance diagnostics + 2 lockstep E2Es retargeted to
design/contracts/{float-semantics,typeclasses}.md. ~12 agent reading
lists + 5 SKILL bodies + CLAUDE.md + skills/README.md + ~25
code/C/.ail/spec comment xrefs retargeted; OQ7 dangling 'Iter 13b'
cite deleted (no forward target — a pointer would be fiction).
honesty-rule.md rewritten so the rule names the new home
(rationale->journals), resolving the recon-found internal
contradiction; the two docs_honesty_pin.rs:70,72 pinned phrases kept
verbatim+contiguous.
Boss-verified independently: cargo test --workspace 646 passed /
0 failed; design_index_pin 4/4; acceptance grep CLEAN of live
DESIGN.md refs (residuals = only the spec-mandated clause-4
deletion-enforcer). 2 DONE_WITH_CONCERNS routed to the mandatory
milestone-close audit: (a) str-abi.md:23 '(iter str-concat,
2026-05-13)' provenance stamp trips advisory architect_sweeps Sweep-1
— Boss-confirmed byte-identical to DESIGN.md@deeffb1:2062-2065, a
faithfully-migrated PRE-EXISTING anchor (regexes verbatim, only path
retargeted), NOT split-introduced — RATIFY-or-tidy at audit; (b) a
now stale-direction intra-prose 'see Str ABI below' cross-ref in
float-semantics.md — audit-adjudication candidate. Plan defect noted:
Task 9 Step 4's verbatim acceptance grep used a ^./ anchor not
matching the system's grep -rIn output; substance re-verified CLEAN.
Spec grounding-check PASS x2. Journals INDEX + decision-records
pointer appended (Boss-only).
81 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
# Authoring surface
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## Decision 6: authoring surface
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Form (A) is implemented as
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the `ailang-surface` crate (parser + printer). Form-A is
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gated against drift by `ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs`, which
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parses every `.ail` fixture, prints it back, re-parses, and demands
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canonical-byte equality. `ail render` and both branches
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of `ail describe` were rewired to use `ailang_surface::print`, making
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form (A) the **sole** text projection of a module — the legacy
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non-round-tripping pretty-printer code in `pretty.rs` was deleted at
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the same time, leaving only diagnostic helpers (`type_to_string`,
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`pattern_to_string`, `manifest`) public.
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## Architectural pin: data structure is the source of truth
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The textual surface is **not** a replacement for the JSON-AST. It is
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one projection among potentially many. Concretely:
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- The JSON-AST keeps its role as the canonical, hashable, content-
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addressed representation of a module. All hashing, content-
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addressing, cross-module references, and typecheck/codegen input
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flow through the JSON-AST. **No new hashable form is introduced.**
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- The textual surface (form A, this Decision) is the **AI authoring
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projection**: optimised for me producing programs token-efficiently
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and for foreign LLMs producing programs from a spec. It is not
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optimised for human authors and does not need to be human-pleasant.
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- Future projections are explicitly anticipated: a visual / graphical
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front-end is a plausible second projection for human review and
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inspection (display being the one case where non-AI eyes matter).
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The architecture leaves room: any producer of well-formed
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`ailang-core::ast::Module` values is a valid front-end.
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- **No human is expected to author AILang seriously.** Authoring is
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AI work. Display and verification, by contrast, are concerns where
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human-facing alternatives may be useful — and which can therefore
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layer their own projections on top of the same AST without
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touching the surface or the core.
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In code terms: `ailang-core` owns the AST. `ailang-surface` is one
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producer/consumer pair: text-form-A → AST → text-form-A. A hypothetical
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`ailang-visual` would be a different producer
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of the same AST. `ailang-check` and `ailang-codegen` consume only
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the AST and remain projection-agnostic.
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## Constraints (hard, in priority order)
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1. **Formalizable for a foreign LLM.** The grammar must fit in an
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EBNF/PEG spec of ≤ 30 productions. A model that has never seen
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AILang must be able to read the spec and produce conforming source
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zero-shot. Rules out: precedence between binary operators,
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semantic indentation, maximal-munch lexing, context-sensitive
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reductions.
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2. **AST-isomorphic.** Every surface form maps to exactly one AST
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shape. The full bijection between `.ail.json` and `.ail` (both
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directions, BLAKE3-stable hashing, Float-bits-hex encoding,
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workspace-CI enforcement points) is anchored as the top-level
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§"Roundtrip Invariant" — this constraint records that Decision
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6's surface-design choice must satisfy that invariant; the
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invariant itself lives at top level because the property is
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load-bearing on the language identity, not on this Decision's
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surface-design rationale.
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3. **No external symbols.** ASCII only. No Greek (`∀`), no arrows
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(`→`), no subscripts. Reasoning: I substitute mojibake for
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non-ASCII characters under context pressure; foreign LLMs vary
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in how they tokenize Unicode.
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4. **No precedence.** Either everything is parenthesized, or there
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are no infix operators. Prefer the latter — `add(x, 1)` over
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`x + 1`. Removes a fail mode for both me and foreign LLMs.
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5. **No semantic indentation.** Block structure expressed by paired
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delimiters or terminator tokens. Indentation is informational
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only; the parser ignores it.
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6. **One construct per token-list.** Every AST node corresponds to
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exactly one parenthesized form (or atom). No "sometimes you can
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omit the parens" rules.
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7. **AST surface stays frozen.** The surface adapts to the AST, not
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the other way around. We do not change the JSON schema or
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invalidate hashes to make the surface prettier.
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Ratified by: `crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs`.
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