A methods repository: demonstrating how to specify, test, and stress-test a tiny “overlap” library across wildly different systems — without implying that any one ecosystem should replace its standard library.
This repository is a stress-test and methods lab for aLib.
It exists to demonstrate:
-
How to identify a minimal overlap (“common”) between systems with very different constraints.
-
How to express that overlap as:
-
a stable spec surface,
-
semantics notes,
-
and a conformance test suite.
-
-
How “reversibility” and “safe iteration” can be enforced through disciplined boundaries and test vectors.
This repo is intentionally allowed to be “weird” and “extreme” because its job is to break ideas early.
|
Note
|
The “overlap” demonstrated here is intentionally chosen for stress-testing across very different designs. It is an illustrative demo of method under extreme diversity — not a claim that any ecosystem should adopt this overlap as its standard library. |
To avoid confusion:
-
Not a replacement for any ecosystem’s standard library.
-
Not a proposal that “all languages should share one stdlib.”
-
Not a claim that the overlap shown here is the “correct” overlap for all projects.
-
Not a dependency that downstream implementations must import.
This repo demonstrates a method. Implementations may borrow the method, not the code.
In the aLib universe there are two different “common” ideas:
A demonstration overlap chosen to be stress-tested against extreme diversity.
A practical shared layer for a specific ecosystem (example: ReScript + Melange + optional runtime validation).
This repo covers only the first meaning.
Some projects may serve as reference points for semantics, verification approaches, or ecosystem-specific implementations.
These relationships are optional and non-binding:
-
proven— a reference implementation that can inform semantics intent and verification style (not required). -
alib-for-rescript— an ecosystem implementation proving ground (ReScript/Melange) that applies the aLib method (not required). -
Implementation support repos (optional): conformance runners, codemods, interop pattern cookbooks.
This repo should not become a “dependency magnet”; implementation repos should be able to adopt the method without importing code from here.
-
Minimal surfaces, explicit semantics.
-
Conformance tests as the safety net.
-
Reversibility: changes must be easy to evaluate and to undo.
-
Ecosystem neutrality: no “blessed” implementation.
Adjust these headings to match the actual repo layout:
-
SPEC/— specifications (surface + semantics) -
tests/— conformance vectors and runners -
notes/— design rationale, reversibility, tradeoffs -
examples/— stress-test cases and demonstrations
-
Read the spec and the design notes.
-
Use conformance vectors to validate an implementation in your ecosystem.
-
Borrow the method for building your own proving-ground library.
Contributions should optimize for:
-
clarity of the overlap definition,
-
stronger tests,
-
stronger reversibility discipline,
-
and reduced ambiguity.
If you are proposing new surface area, you must also propose:
-
semantics notes, and
-
tests that make regressions obvious.