Basic types

"There are two kinds of data structures: DAGs, and bad data structures." - unknown

Anoma's protocol layers themselves form an information-theoretic DAG, in that higher layers can depend on information from lower layers, but not vice-versa --lower layers are blind to the syntax and semantics of higher layers, and data of concern to higher layers is represented in lower layers as opaque bytestrings. This rule, however, is partially broken in one place-- an identity can be defined in such a way that it evolves in logical time, and thus depends on a particular view of a logical DAG --but there is still a DAG in time, the cycle is only in this document.

The protocol architecture described herein makes no decisions --it is completely constrained by the context and desiderata heretofore enumerated, and modulo the two unique up to isomorphism. The protocol is not general for generality's sake, but rather because only a correct disentanglement of abstractions and relations can provide the requisite theoretical basis for understanding what it is exactly that the system does and ensure complete deduplication of engineering efforts.

!!! question "Prove this (unique up to isomorphism)" If it doesn't hold we've probably described something slightly incorrectly.

Parameters are external input to the system, or derived from the combination of external inputs to the system over time, and since external inputs may depend on the state of the system, which is accessible to agents choosing those inputs, as intermediated by the agents making choices the gestalt forms a feedback mechanism.

Note

Although this document does not use the language or process and cannot claim a similar depth of expertise, we have taken some inspiration from Conal Elliot's denotational design.

• Identity
• Resource Management
• Physical DAG
• Logical DAG
• Entanglement