Brummel
832375f2ac
All 176 files in the four accumulating directories now use a zero-padded 4-digit counter prefix that reflects creation order (`NNNN-slug.md`). The counter is assigned per directory in strict git-log creation order; ties broken alphabetically by original name. The old `YYYY-MM-DD-` prefix on docs/specs/ and docs/plans/ files is dropped — the date is recoverable from git log and the counter carries the ordering. A file's counter is stable for the life of the file: never reassigned, never reused, never compacted. Deleted files retire their counter; subsequent files do not fill the gap. This is the property that lets cross-references stay literal — refs use the full filename including the counter (`design/contracts/0007-honesty-rule.md`) so they grep cleanly and resolve directly without a glob step. 313 cross-references updated across .md/.rs/.toml/.c/.json files (test pins, include_str! paths, design-INDEX entries, baseline notes, runtime C comments, inter-contract markdown links incl. bare basename and `../models/foo.md` forms). CLAUDE.md gets a new "File-naming convention" section spelling out the rule and rationale. skills/brainstorm/SKILL.md and skills/planner/SKILL.md updated so new spec/plan creation produces counter-prefixed names from the start. The full test suite (cargo test --workspace) passes.
81 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
81 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
# Authoring surface
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## 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](0002-data-model.md) 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 contract) 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](0009-roundtrip-invariant.md) — this constraint
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records that the surface-design choice must satisfy that
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invariant; the invariant itself lives at top level because the
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property is load-bearing on the language identity, not on this
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file's 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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