nf.representation.tbnf

Token-Bounded Normal Form (TBNF)

Contract ID: nf.representation.tbnf | Family: representation | Index Status: draft | AuthorityEffect: None

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1. Executive Summary & Metadata

Token-Bounded Normal Form (TBNF) enforces structural normalization and explicit defect routing in the representation regime.

Property	Value
Canonical ID	nf.representation.tbnf
Short Name	TBNF
Full Name	Token-Bounded Normal Form
Family	representation (Data in Representation, Canonical Wire Grammars, Orbit Representatives & Gauge Fixing)
Qualification	Extended Form Contract (Normal Form Contract)
Data / Math Posture	at_rest
Index Status	draft
Theory Status	proposed
Verification Status	absent
Contract Version	v0
Governance Fence	AuthorityEffect: None (certified_implies_authorized: false)

Foundational Treatise Specification

• Levels: Level 0 - 1
• Spec Files: ['0_grammar.md', '1_grammar.md']
• Anomaly Excluded: Lexical injection and parsing ambiguity from non-printable or out-of-alphabet tokens.
• Preserved Invariant: Admitted wire strings strictly composed of 38-token alphabet with unique prefix decodability.
• Lossless Reconstruction: Unique bi-directional bijection between structured ASTs and raw byte streams.

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2. Visual Architecture & Normalization Diagram

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3. Concrete Worked Example & Mechanism

Visual Transition Summary

Stage	Carrier / Operator	Concrete State / Invariant
1. Before / Candidate Input	Input Carrier (TBNF Candidate)	Anomaly risk: a wire string that ; contains whitespace, a ; non-printable character, or a...
2. Normalization / Gate	TBNF Verification Gate	every admitted string is ... (certified_implies_authorized: false)
3. After / Certified Output	Certified TBNF Output	Invariant: ['alphabet', ; 'prefix_decoder']

Contract-Declared Worked Cases

- ref: coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md
  section: '3.1'

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4. The Four-Pillar Quadrilateral & Non-Claims

Every contract in simplex-normal-forms is evaluated against the Four-Pillar Quadrilateral defined in contracts/_golden_nfs/standard.yaml:

Pillar	Requirement	Contract Specification for nf.representation.tbnf
Pillar I: Excludes Anomaly	Name and eliminate a specific class of data or state defects.	a wire string that contains whitespace, a non-printable character, or a token outside the declared alphabet, and a string with two prefix readings
Pillar II: Preserves Invariant	State the structural invariant and protected skeleton preserved across transitions.	Invariant: every admitted string is a concatenation of the 38-symbol alphabet and has one prefix decoding Protected Skeleton: ['alphabet', 'prefix_decoder']
Pillar III: Lossless Reconstruction	State the non-loss reconstruction operator (join, direct sum, pullback, or replay).	Lossless reconstruction under declared projection, direct sum, or pullback operators.
Pillar IV: Syntactic Decidability	State how conformance is decided from declared constraints without unbudgeted scans.	Decidable from declared schema and witness metadata within bounded evaluation budgets.

Explicit Non-Claims (certified_implies_authorized: false)

• the 38-symbol alphabet is the alphabet declared by the source treatise
• does not supply the production rules of a grammar beyond unique prefix decoding
• does not imply authorization

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5. Operational Verification & Terminal Routing

5.1 Required Declarations

• alphabet
• prefix_decoder

5.2 Required Evidence

None declared.

5.3 Validation Criteria

Criterion ID	Name	Condition
criterion	Check	every character of an admitted string belongs to the 38-symbol alphabet
criterion	Check	the declared decoder returns one tokenization
criterion	Check	the inverse of that tokenization returns the same string

5.4 Terminal Route Map

Every evaluation terminates in a declared local route mapped to a canonical terminal in standard.yaml:

Local Terminal Route	Canonical Terminal
Accept	Preserve
RejectOutOfAlphabet	Reject
RejectAmbiguousPrefix	Reject

5.5 Declared Failure Modes

• symptom: the string contains a space or a byte outside the alphabet, diagnosis: token alphabet violation, terminal: RejectOutOfAlphabet
• symptom: two token cuts are both accepted by the decoder, diagnosis: prefix decoding is not unique, terminal: RejectAmbiguousPrefix

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6. Epistemic Claim Hygiene Quadrant

In accordance with the repository's epistemic claim discipline:

1. What it supports:
   • Supports syntactic and operational checking of nf.representation.tbnf (TBNF) against its declared schema, boundary constraints, and witness obligations in this model.
   • Supports deterministic terminal routing (Accept, RejectOutOfAlphabet, RejectAmbiguousPrefix) when required declarations or invariants fail.
2. What it does not support:
   • Does not confer operational authority (AuthorityEffect: None, certified_implies_authorized: false).
   • Does not claim semantic truth of undeclared external processes or unverified upstream inputs beyond the declaredprotected skeleton.
3. The narrowest defensible claim:
   • Within the declared substrate at_rest, this contract enforces that a wire string that contains whitespace, a non-printable character, or a token outside the declared alphabet, and a string with two prefix readings is either excluded under every admitted string is a concatenation of the 38-symbol alphabet and has one prefix decoding or routed to an explicit refusal/recovery terminal.
4. The next test needed:
   • Property-based falsification and mutation testing across boundary edge cases and composed multi-step pipelines for nf.representation.tbnf.

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7. Canonical YAML Contract (contracts/nf.representation.tbnf.yaml)

Click to expand full canonical YAML contract (contracts/nf.representation.tbnf.yaml)

schema_version: smplx.nf.contract.v0
schema_ref: ./normal_form_contract_schema.yaml
contract_kind: normal_form_contract
identity:
  id: nf.representation.tbnf
  name: Token-Bounded Normal Form
  short_name: TBNF
  version: v0
  theory_status: proposed
  contract_status: draft
  verification_status: absent
  family: representation
  status: draft
classification:
  hierarchy_level: normal_form
  subject_kind:
  - wire_string
  - token_alphabet
  data_posture: at_rest
  mathematical_posture: operational
purpose:
  excludes_anomaly: a wire string that contains whitespace, a non-printable character,
    or a token outside the declared alphabet, and a string with two prefix readings
  preserves_invariant: every admitted string is a concatenation of the 38-symbol alphabet
    and has one prefix decoding
  protected_skeleton:
  - alphabet
  - prefix_decoder
  erased_structure:
  - whitespace
  - non_printable_bytes
  - out_of_alphabet_tokens
  non_claims:
  - the 38-symbol alphabet is the alphabet declared by the source treatise
  - does not supply the production rules of a grammar beyond unique prefix decoding
  - does not imply authorization
definition:
  source: coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md
  section: '3.1'
  formal_statement: 'The alphabet is the 26 letters a through z, the 10 digits 0 through
    9, and the two brackets < and >. An admitted wire string is a finite concatenation
    of that alphabet. The declared decoder has exactly one way to cut the string into
    tokens. The structured value and the byte string determine each other.

    '
  quadrilateral:
    qualifies_as_true_normal_form: false
    qualification_gap: reconstruction_is_a_decoding_bijection_not_a_relational_join
    qualifies_as_extended_form: true
    anomaly_exclusion: lexical injection and an ambiguous parse
    lossless_join:
      status: decoding_bijection
      statement: the decoder and its inverse relate structured values and admitted
        byte strings in both directions
    dependency_preservation:
      status: alphabet_membership_retained
      statement: decoding does not introduce a symbol outside the alphabet
    syntactic_decision:
      status: schema_decidable
      statement: membership is the alphabet check plus the unique-prefix check on
        the declared decoder
declarations_required:
- alphabet
- prefix_decoder
evidence_required: []
validation_criteria:
- every character of an admitted string belongs to the 38-symbol alphabet
- the declared decoder returns one tokenization
- the inverse of that tokenization returns the same string
terminal_routes:
- Accept
- RejectOutOfAlphabet
- RejectAmbiguousPrefix
terminal_route_map:
  Accept: Preserve
  RejectOutOfAlphabet: Reject
  RejectAmbiguousPrefix: Reject
certification:
  certificate_required: false
  certificate_kind: null
  obstruction_class_required: false
  loss_ledger_required: false
  verifier_required: false
  loss_ledger_trigger_id: null
authorization:
  authorized_by: null
  certified_implies_authorized: false
failure_modes:
- symptom: the string contains a space or a byte outside the alphabet
  diagnosis: token alphabet violation
  terminal: RejectOutOfAlphabet
- symptom: two token cuts are both accepted by the decoder
  diagnosis: prefix decoding is not unique
  terminal: RejectAmbiguousPrefix
examples:
- ref: coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md
  section: '3.1'
references:
- coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md