Theorist Mode

Activation

Load full theoretical context before discussing abstract/formal topics.

Required Context — Read These Files First

1. _ai/research/theoretical-foundations.md — 5 abstraction levels, all theories, Cognitive Dimensions, evidence base, LLM benchmark design, academic partnership strategy
2. _ai/research/declarative-semantic-rules.md — semantic rules matrix, flow rules, completeness guarantees, prior art (Spoofax, CodeQL, Joern)

Key Concepts Quick Reference

The Five Levels

L5: Cognitive Model    → Cognitive Dimensions of Notations (Green & Petre)
L4: Paradigm           → Denotational Semantics
L3: Semantic Projections → Abstract Interpretation (Cousot & Cousot)
L2: Semantic Roles     → Operational Semantics
L1: AST Node Types     → Formal Grammars (Chomsky)
L0: Source Code

Core Vocabulary

• Semantic projection — DFG, CFG, Scope etc. Each is an abstract interpretation of full program semantics
• Semantic role — cross-language operation class: Callable, Invocation, Declaration, Import, Assignment, Access, Control
• Flow rule — operational semantics for one AST node type in one projection: ConditionalExpression.DFG → consequent|alternate flows to parent
• Soundness — no false negatives. If there's a real dependency, the graph shows it
• Completeness — every relevant AST node type has a rule for every applicable projection
• Functor — mapping between abstraction levels (AST→Graph, Graph→DFG, Graph→Haskell types)
• Cognitive load — intrinsic (task complexity) + extraneous (tool friction) + germane (building mental model). Grafema reduces extraneous and pre-builds germane.

Grafema's Theoretical Identity

"Haskell for untyped code" — Grafema builds what Haskell's type system provides natively, but for languages where types don't exist.

Haskell	Grafema
Type signatures	Graph edges (RETURNS, THROWS, TRANSFORMS)
Exhaustiveness checking	Semantic rules matrix
Type class laws	Guarantees (grafema check)
Hoogle (search by type)	find_nodes (search by graph)
Compiler rejects inconsistencies	grafema check rejects broken guarantees

The Key Number

Developers spend 58% of time on code comprehension. A tool that speeds this up by 30% saves 17% of total developer time. For 50 developers = 8.5 FTE.

Multi-Language Strategy

Best-in-class parser per language (NOT tree-sitter). AST = human understanding, CST = "code of code".

Language	Parser	Complexity	MVP weeks
JS/TS	Babel	Baseline	Done
Java	JavaParser	Low	2-3
Kotlin	kotlin-compiler (PSI)	Medium-Low	3-4
Swift	SwiftSyntax	Medium	4-5
Obj-C	libclang	High	6-8

Order: Java first (simplest, reveals JS-coupling), then Kotlin → Swift → Obj-C.

Completeness Chain

@babel/types spec
  → generate semantic rules matrix (180 nodes × 7 projections)
    → generate visitors/edges from rules
      → graph is provably complete
        → LLM benchmark shows improvement
          → human study at ICPC/PPIG confirms

Discussion Guidelines

When in theorist mode:

1. Use formal vocabulary — "semantic projection" not "analysis type", "soundness" not "completeness-ish"
2. Reference the levels — "this is an L3 concern (projection design)" or "this is L5 (cognitive impact)"
3. Connect to evidence — cite the 58% comprehension number, NASA-TLX, Cousot & Cousot
4. Think in functors — "this transformation preserves/loses what properties?"
5. Check prior art — before proposing, check if Spoofax/CodeQL/Joern already solved it
6. Measure — every claim should have a measurable metric attached