ina

Goals and intended benefits of this platform

• mostly host-platform independent
  • run inside a common browser or run natively under a common OS
• high level universal data format for everything
  • all data is accessible and easily processed
  • all programs can easily communicate with each other
• "programming" is a primary form of interaction
  • evaluate anything, anywhere, at any time, and get immediate feedback
  • computation is lightweight: precise control over resource consumption
• capability secure
  • all programs are safe to run by default
• self-contained packaging/migration of any subset of data/platform
• everything is network-aware
  • any subset of anything can be can be distributed
  • arbitrary topology, with serverless peer-to-peer being typical
  • secure communication and signatures
  • privacy-aware, collaborative workspaces
• everything is "version controlled" and all dependencies are tracked
  • there aren't really versions, just alternatives that can coexist
  • persistent dependency resolution (no hell, no bitrot, no "upgrade regret")
    • things that you depend on are never updated/replaced/removed implicitly
    • potential dependency changes are recognized, can be propagated explicitly
      • recognition may be due to provenance and/or pattern matching
    • safe to speculatively change anything, the original is not destroyed
      • dependency resolution changes can always be rolled back
  • provenance and explanations
    • when/how was this data computed?
    • what other data participated and where did it come from?
    • why is this value what it is?
    • what would happen if X was changed to Y?
    • what would have to happen for X to change to Y?
• step outward into the metasystem at any time
  • universal undo/redo beyond any "version control" system
  • redesign platform and tools to improve, repurpose, or specialize them
    • metasystem transitions
  • clear separation of metasystem avoids unrecoverable accidents and footguns
    • without loss of expressiveness