The Three Registers

Every document has three layers.

Φ — Phi — Form — where it is. Its room, its shelf, its classification. Structure.

Μ — Mu — Message — what it says. The words. Content.

Λ — Lambda — Function — what it does. Logic that runs when read. Action.

To see all three:

> inspect the erosion

    Φ — Phi — Form
      Location: east-wing/stacks/the-erosion
      Classification: process, living document
      Size: 847 bytes

    Μ — Mu — Message
      Content: "This story loses a line each time..."

    Λ — Lambda — Function
      set visits ← read-count
      if visits > 1:
        erode self 1

Not every document has all three. A letter has Φ and Μ but no Λ — it sits on a shelf and says something but does nothing. A blank page has only Φ — a place with nothing to say. The richest documents have all three and are, in a sense, alive.

File format

A document is a plain text file. The Λ layer is separated by --- Λ ---:

This is the visible text (Μ layer).

--- Λ ---
say "This runs when the document is read."

Documents without the separator have no Λ layer. They are still.