4 ms·

I'm guessing you're not a native English speaker. Your descriptions could use some work. A few examples: "For the first time, we can achieve semantic-level cod

I'm guessing you're not a native English speaker. Your descriptions could use some work. A few examples: "For the first time, we can achieve semantic-level code reuse through type composition." is, to me, mostly meaningless. This almost certainly isn't the first time someone has done whatever it is you are claiming. What is *semantic-level" code reuse? Calling a library function is code reuse, and I expect that function to have the same semantics every time I call it. Why is type composition necessary to achieve this? "Define the program's overall behavior through compositional declarations. This means we gain the ability to specify the program's overall behavior at the type level." How does the specifying behavior at the type level follow from composition? I can use composition, at the value level, just fine without types (e.g. in Javascript).

loa_in_ 1y ago
It makes perfect sense if one considers the whole description and the field of computer sciences. It reads more like an overview that an explanation and I guess that's too be expected from any project in it's pre-mature stages of development. IMO it reads just fine, but it should delve deeper into the matter after the introduction.
goless 1y ago
Yes the expression may not be precise enough, but the example should be accurate enough. 1, https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#2-implementing-and-reusing-selection-semantics https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#2-imp... This shows what composition means, and even complex nested selects are described quite precisely by type. 2, https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#1-combining-checkpin-to-express-complex-logic https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#1-com... Yes, this effect can be achieved without using composite types. But if it is convenient and easy to achieve this effect through composite types, is it worth it?
- noelwelsh 1y ago
  I have to admit I'm not very interested in reading the code. I'm not likely to use this library so I'm more interested in a conceptual understanding than in the details that code requires. Regarding composition, there are at least three ways to compose FSMs: * Sequential: when one FSM finishes (reaches a final state) it transitions to the start state of another FSM. * Parallel: two FSMs transition in parallel from the same input * Nested: when a FSM reaches a certain state, another FSM starts responding to the input. When the second FSM reaches a final state, control returns to the original FSM. It would help your description if you were clear about the kinds of composition your library supports. The terminology of FSMs is quite consistent and well defined, so I think you should be able to use it to describe what the library does.
  - goless 1y ago
    Is there a way to combine: Higher order finite state machines that require other states as parameters to work. https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zig https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zi... The select, inside, and hover states here are all high-level states, and all require two state parameters. And these three states form a small state machine for handling mouse interactive selection. Can I think of this way of using higher-order state machines as a kind of composition? A semantic composition.
    - goless 1y ago
      From this perspective, do you think my previous description is accurate?
    - mxkopy 1y ago
      This sounds more like a product than a composition but I’m not sure. I think the parent is hinting to use established compcomp language. Sipser is a good read for this
      - goless 1y ago
        I'm not sure if this is a new form of state machine. If you look at the code here you'll see that the select state uses some functions from the parameter state. https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zig#L47 https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zi... So you can see that the select state itself is incomplete, and the parameter state completes it. It doesn't seem to be any of the 3 described above. Perhaps it is reasonable to call it semantic composition.
        goless 1y ago
        Here I must mention the great advantage of the Zig language: it has the expressiveness of a dynamic language and the type safety of a static language.
    - noelwelsh 1y ago
TimorousBestie 1y ago
> This almost certainly isn't the first time someone has done whatever it is you are claiming. I’ve seen category theory papers on this and related topics, but I haven’t seen code in the wild. Have you? IME this kind of finite state machine business code (as opposed to a FSM embedded in an algorithm somewhere) is written as a one-off each time. E.g., https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.05415 https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.05415 comes to mind. David I. Spivak has also done some work on composition of systems that is relevant.

loa_in_ 1y ago

It makes perfect sense if one considers the whole description and the field of computer sciences. It reads more like an overview that an explanation and I guess that's too be expected from any project in it's pre-mature stages of development. IMO it reads just fine, but it should delve deeper into the matter after the introduction.

goless 1y ago

Yes the expression may not be precise enough, but the example should be accurate enough. 1, https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#2-implementing-and-reusing-selection-semantics https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#2-imp... This shows what composition means, and even complex nested selects are described quite precisely by type. 2, https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#1-combining-checkpin-to-express-complex-logic https://github.com/sdzx-1/polystate?tab=readme-ov-file#1-com... Yes, this effect can be achieved without using composite types. But if it is convenient and easy to achieve this effect through composite types, is it worth it?

noelwelsh 1y ago
I have to admit I'm not very interested in reading the code. I'm not likely to use this library so I'm more interested in a conceptual understanding than in the details that code requires. Regarding composition, there are at least three ways to compose FSMs: * Sequential: when one FSM finishes (reaches a final state) it transitions to the start state of another FSM. * Parallel: two FSMs transition in parallel from the same input * Nested: when a FSM reaches a certain state, another FSM starts responding to the input. When the second FSM reaches a final state, control returns to the original FSM. It would help your description if you were clear about the kinds of composition your library supports. The terminology of FSMs is quite consistent and well defined, so I think you should be able to use it to describe what the library does.
- goless 1y ago
  Is there a way to combine: Higher order finite state machines that require other states as parameters to work. https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zig https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zi... The select, inside, and hover states here are all high-level states, and all require two state parameters. And these three states form a small state machine for handling mouse interactive selection. Can I think of this way of using higher-order state machines as a kind of composition? A semantic composition.
  - goless 1y ago
    From this perspective, do you think my previous description is accurate?
  - mxkopy 1y ago
    This sounds more like a product than a composition but I’m not sure. I think the parent is hinting to use established compcomp language. Sipser is a good read for this
    - goless 1y ago
      I'm not sure if this is a new form of state machine. If you look at the code here you'll see that the select state uses some functions from the parameter state. https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zig#L47 https://github.com/sdzx-1/ray-game/blob/master/src/select.zi... So you can see that the select state itself is incomplete, and the parameter state completes it. It doesn't seem to be any of the 3 described above. Perhaps it is reasonable to call it semantic composition.
      - goless 1y ago
        Here I must mention the great advantage of the Zig language: it has the expressiveness of a dynamic language and the type safety of a static language.
  - noelwelsh 1y ago

TimorousBestie 1y ago

> This almost certainly isn't the first time someone has done whatever it is you are claiming. I’ve seen category theory papers on this and related topics, but I haven’t seen code in the wild. Have you? IME this kind of finite state machine business code (as opposed to a FSM embedded in an algorithm somewhere) is written as a one-off each time. E.g., https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.05415 https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.05415 comes to mind. David I. Spivak has also done some work on composition of systems that is relevant.