Document temporal dominance rule semantics in effect system#1869
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arnaudgelas wants to merge 1 commit intoinformalsystems:mainfrom
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Document temporal dominance rule semantics in effect system#1869arnaudgelas wants to merge 1 commit intoinformalsystems:mainfrom
arnaudgelas wants to merge 1 commit intoinformalsystems:mainfrom
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Add comprehensive documentation to the effect unification code explaining the semantic rationale behind the Update/Temporal dominance rule. The `isDominant` function enforces that actions (Read & Update effects) and temporal formulas (Read & Temporal effects) are mutually exclusive by design: - Actions are state transition relations that modify state variables - Temporal formulas express properties about execution traces without modifying state When unifying effects where one has Update and another has Temporal: - Concrete entities on both sides (e.g., Update['x'] vs Temporal['y']) correctly fail with an error - Entity variables get constrained to empty (nullified) This is intentional behavior, not information loss. To use actions in temporal contexts, explicit conversion operators like `orKeep`, `weakFair`, etc. must be used, which transform the effect signature from `Read[r] & Update[u]` to `Temporal[r, u, ...]`. The documentation clarifies: - Why ['update', 'temporal'] is not in compatibleComponentKinds - The purpose and behavior of the isDominant function - Practical implications during effect unification - How to properly compose actions with temporal operators Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Add comprehensive documentation to the effect unification code explaining the semantic rationale behind the Update/Temporal dominance rule.
The
isDominantfunction enforces that actions (Read & Update effects) and temporal formulas (Read & Temporal effects) are mutually exclusive by design:When unifying effects where one has Update and another has Temporal:
This is intentional behavior, not information loss. To use actions in temporal contexts, explicit conversion operators like
orKeep,weakFair, etc. must be used, which transform the effect signature fromRead[r] & Update[u]toTemporal[r, u, ...].The documentation clarifies:
(including screenshots is helpful)
CHANGELOG.mdfor any new functionality