A case against standards

[Ilmari Heikkinen]

Hello Armin, 

to, 2003-10-16 kello 20:03, Armin Rigo kirjoitti:
> Only then is it allowed to use a
> function f from A to B, and only if we know that this function is the identity
> function when seen abstractedly as a function from C to C. This condition
> means that the object after conversion is "the same" as before, when viewed as
> a C.

So, hmm, suppose we have an object O of set A, and a function that
accepts members of set B with the context C. The function would accept
O's projection to B if and only if O-as-A's projection to C equals
O-as-B's projection to C. And C could be anything, but would usually be
used to specify the exact information the function is interested in, so
the common use-case for context would be an abstract model C written in
the formalism B. And this would be useful in writing programs that can
be proven, yet do not require the programmer to do any more type
juggling than strictly necessary.

Maybe expressed in some hypothetical implementation as something like
this?
f(B), returns X,
 implicit-typecast-condition: ((A as C) equals (B as C)) for (A to B)

Or am I glossing over something? Also, what is your definition of
subclass? A class related to another via the sharing of one or more
abstract pieces of information?


> What I am now trying to do is to study what occurs if
> you have more than one model and inter-relate them (in the "subjective models"
> section); then what occurs when you try to relate different formalisms, and
> how the formalisms should be meta and reflective to help about that (i.e.
> representing the execution within a formalism as an operation in another (or
> the same) formalism).
>
> Does it make more sense?

Um, let's see. Would expressing a program written in language A as one in
language B be an example of relating models and formalisms? Also, would
information expressed in a specific format be a model written in the 
formalism that is the format?

As for the goals.. Finding out the limits of translation between formats
and how the formats could be written to best help in doing (automated)
translation?


Thanks for your time,


-Ilmari