Exposition

|↑| ⏾ Concept Map | Memos | Exposition

To enter, either use the search bar to find a specific concept or choose from one of the listed Disciplines. You can also see a flattened representation of the map at Aerial.

Everything should be intuitive, so reading on is optional. Happy exploring.

Concept Map

This is an attempt to define and organize everything in the study of High-Energy Astrophysics 𓆩⚪𓆪 for learning or reference. The scope of the project is expansive, so it includes many other things related to physics more broadly, engineering, programming, and so on.

It borrows the framing of an object-oriented programming language, which abstracts all data as an object to allow common handling of everything. Here, anything that can be identified is a concept. Concepts are given the same basic formatting and properties and are organized by their relationships to each other.

Relationships are those of a parent, sibling, child hierarchy. Concepts share a template, where the first line is for parents, lines prefixed ⮞ ➔ are for siblings, and the query block is for children.

On creation, a concept declares its parents. Dataview ○˒ queries retrieve these connections and arrange them, building the structure of the map.

One way to think of it is to imagine that Concept is the title of a document and the child concepts are section headers in that document. The parent concepts would be documents where Concept is a section header.

For cleanliness and ease of navigation, the front page is only a tapered view of Concept’s relationships. The relationships page exposes all connections, where,

the top section is for things above, before, or enveloping the concept (parents),
the bottom section is for things below, after, or enveloped by the concept (children),
and the middle section is for all other relationships, including siblings, indeterminate relationships, circular parent/child relationships, and anything else.

The high-level behavior of the map is that it microscopes from general to specific.

Enter the map at any point that interests you and try clicking around using your intuitive sense of top, middle, and bottom.
If you don’t see what you expected from a certain vantage point, try opening the relationships page with ⤷ ・・・for the full view. The record of these less-visible connections is found at Record of nonfilers.
If you get lost, the up arrow |↑| is chained so as to always flow back to the disciplines page. Keep clicking it until you reach breatheable air.
The boxes on the righthand side of the first line provide a basis for intensifying special relationships. Mostly, these are sets to which the concept at hand has been added as a member.
The echo ᯤ is at the bottom of every entry, leading back to the concept.

Pockets

Each concept gets three pockets: relationships, topics, and entries. These are accesible through the three continuation markers ・・・ at the bottom of a concept’s header.

Relationships are links to other concepts. This is how navigation is done, forming the structure of the map.

Entries are the body content of a concept. An entry can be anything worth remarking about the concept in question. They get an ordinal grade or a three-letter category code and are displayed directly through the window of an embedded link. Primary entries are also displayed on the front page and are usually definitions or official links.

Topics are entries with a title.

An entry which lacks both a code and a title is accesible from nowhere, unless linked to from another entry.

Entries can be sent to multiple concepts, allowing them to share content.

Symbols

The map uses unique symbols for disambiguation and contextualization. The circle after the concept name serves as an anchor for various classifying marks. For example,

The radiative mark ○˒ is for proper nouns.
The pointing triangle ○◂ is for mathematical objects, like Force (F) ○◂. The arrow ○￩ is for formulations of mathematical objects, like Force (F=m⋅a) ○￩.
⚬𓂃 is for written works.
Words of programming languages get a signature unique to the language, like abs() ⚬ᵖʸ/abs() ⚬ᵐˡ.
And other things.

Glitter

The trailing symbols provide additional characterization of child relationships.

Basic:

… marks child concepts which extend the concept at hand.¹

Set handling:

✧ marks set members.
❂ marks subsets.
↷ marks “under-sets”, a special kind of subset which belongs to a sub-discipline.

Special:

➺ is used for redirects.
↪↩ marks circular parent/child relationships.
⮜ marks a variant formulation of the mathematical object at hand.
⊗ marks a class-to-set transition, like moving from X-Ray Binary (XRB) ○꠹ (a discussion about X-ray binaries in the general sense) to ❪◑❫ X-Ray Binaries ○ (a listing of named members).
⊕ marks a word-to-thing transition, like moving from xspec ⚬ʰᵉᵃ (the HEASoft command) to XSPEC ○͒ (the software itself).
🌀 conveys the idea of mathematical containment: For a formulation of a mathematical object, this marks the other objects used in the formulation.

Sibling Symbols

Sibling relationship can also be characterized with a trailing symbol, if needed.

🗘 is for opposites.
⇄ is for parallels.
￫￩ is for aliases.
🙵 is for inseparably close or entwined relationships.
△ is for parents borrowing the space reserved for siblings.
✘ means is not, used for disambiguation of things with deceptively similar names.

Knowledge Sets

Enumerable sets are prefixed with a set symbol.

❪✺❫ is for shells, universal receivers of concepts for a discipline. Instances take the name concepts again.
- ❪✺₁❫ is for classes, sub-shells for concepts which represent a class of things.
  - ❪✺₁ₐ❫ is for types, special classes.
- ❪✺₂❫ is for domains, sub-shells for concepts which are their own bodies of knowledge.
  - ❪✺₂ₐ❫ is for methods, bodies of knowledge which are techniques, strategies, etc.
- ❪✺₃❫ is for particulars, sub-shells for proper nouns.
  - ❪✺₃ₐ❫ is for hubs. External resources, networks, databases, etc.
- ❪✺₄❫ is for sets, sub-shells for concepts which are themselves sets.
- ❪✺_❫ is for subs, sub-shells for concepts which were absorbed by another concept, removing the need to list it in one of the real shells. This is mainly a bookkeeping device; the subs shell keeps absorbed concepts from getting lost.
  - ❪✺_ₛₛ❫ is for subsets, a hook for sets which are covered by a larger set or another concept. This is any set which is not visible from ❪✺₄❫.
    - ❪✺_ₜₛ❫ is for typesets, a hook for sets which fork one of the predefined sets.
❪∂❫ is for math, home to everything mathy:
- ❪∂₁❫ functions: the familiar idea of a function, a mapping from input to output.
  - ❪∂₁ₐ❫ operations, like arithmetic operations.
- ❪∂₂❫ recipes: algorithms and so on.
- ❪∂₃❫ rules: laws, theorems, principles, formulas, identities, and so on.
- ❪∂₄❫ sequences: the familiar idea of a sequence, term-by-term listings of objects.
  - ❪∂₄ₐ❫ series: infinite sequences.
- ❪∂₅❫ structures: sets, spaces, and so on.
- ❪𝛿❫ quantities, which get a unique symbol because of their central importance.
- ❪𝛿₁❫ numbers: dimensionless quantities.
  - ❪𝛿₁ₐ❫ constants.
- ❪𝛿₂❫ units.
- ❪𝛿 ͚ ❫ infinities, quantity-like entities conveying boundless growth or decay.
- ❪∂_❫ subs for mathematical objects.
  - ❪∂₌❫ formulations: variant formulations of a listed object.
❪𖣐❫ is for tech, home to all of the technical specifics of a field. Partions into:
- ❪𖣐₁❫ data,
  - ❪𖣐₁ₐ❫ file extensions,
  - ❪𖣐₁ₑ❫ file formats,
- ❪𖣐₂❫ instrumentation,
- ❪𖣐₃❫ software,
  - ❪𖣐₃ₐ❫ applications,
  - ❪𖣐₃ₑ❫ utilities.
❪֎❫ is for lexica, the vocabulary of computer languages.
- ❪֎₁❫ commands: terminal commands and so on.
  - ❪֎₁ₐ❫ command-line tools: downloadable utilities and so on.
- ❪֎₂❫ diagnostics: errors, exceptions and so on.
- ❪֎₃❫ functions: the familiar idea of a function; any callable entity.
- ❪֎₄❫ instructions: machine code.
- ❪֎₅❫ modules: file-level items.
- ❪֎₆❫ tokens: strings recognized by the language interpreter/compiler.
  - ❪֎₆ₐ❫ keywords.
- ❪֎₇❫ types: data types, fundamental classes.
- ❪֎₈❫ values,
  - ❪֎₈ₐ❫ constants.
- ❪֎ₐ❫ word groupings: features not easily grappled by any of the above, often language-specific.
- ❪֎_❫ subs for lexica.
  - ❪֎_ₛₛ❫ subsets for lexica.
❪文❫ is for vocabulary, words of human language.
❪📖❫ is for texts, authoritative reference or learning material, consisting of established knowledge.
- ❪📖₁❫ is for documentation.
- ❪📄❫ is for papers, mostly novel research.
❪⎇❫ is for branches, pathways between disciplines.
❪○❫ is for collections, used at discretion to keep things smooth, clean & tidy.

Also, there are a few ways to mutate an existing symbol:

A subscript zero creates a portal, used to direct traffic to the undersets.
A subscript X creates an expanded or external version of the set, used mainly with lexica for distinguishing core features of the language from downloadable packages and the like.
A period create a grouping version of the set. A grouping of a grouping gets two periods, and so on.
An apostrophe forks the set, creating an arbitrary set with a unique name and the heritage of the symbol. This has the effect of inventing a new branch in the taxonomy, contrasting the groupers which keep their place on the tree. A fork of a fork gets two apostrophes, and so on.

Finally, there are arbitrary sets, detatched from the established classifications:

❪◕❫ for high-level arbitrary sets,
❪◑❫ for mid-level arbitrary sets,
❪◔❫ for low-level arbitrary sets.

…these are the things living downstream of ❪✺₄❫.

Directory Structure

Trunks

Categorized and filed concepts are split into three main trunks:

Branching for most concepts, which organizes by academic discipline.
Fanning for smaller or more fragmentary concepts, like lexical elements, written works, and vocabulary items. Each grouping gets a unique structure best suited to contain it.
Standing for certain concepts which are easily placed, like the predefined sets. As implied by the name, these rarely move, and are minimally organized. They bypass the resolving zones.

Resolving Zones

Connections are kept orderly by filing concepts into one of three zones, reflected in the directory structure. A zone represents a filing pattern deducible from the content of the first line on a concept’s page.

(A): Set Members. These concepts go up to an invented set, meaning, a set not listed above. They get the set hook.
(B): Shelled. These concepts go up to a predefined set. Some of the predefined sets take a set hook, while some are left bare.
(C): Covered. These concepts go up to another concept which is not a set. They get the subs hook.

Each concept passes through these gates before coming to rest in a folder with the name of the top-left parent concept.

There are also a few special gates for special cases:

Multi-filers pass through the (&) gate.
Truncates pass through the (@) gate.
Formulations pass through the (=) gate.
The (!) gate is used for arbitary grouping, rarely.

Loose Comments

Records

The directory structure itself records and checks the main connections, but it can’t capture everything. Other patterns are maintained by a bulleted list checked against a query, available at Records.

How it’s built

As I work and study, I make a note of things I want to learn or remember; later, I look them up and add them to the most relevant discipline’s ❪✺❫ Concepts ○ page. As concepts accumulate, patterns appear, and I use those patterns to group things sensibly.

Because the primary channel for additions takes this as-needed order, many of the sets listed are only partially represented. To fix this, each opened set gets added to a “partial-set itinerary” which I go through when I have the time.

…continued…

They “go up” to it. ↩

⏾ Concept Map