Protocol Atlas

Hara’s foundation protocols are a compact vocabulary for constructing values, collections, stateful components, deferred work, and live runtime systems. Their canonical identities live under std.protocol.*.

The Atlas is both a reference and a course map. Protocol families with a complete interactive lab link directly to it; the remaining families identify the next labs to build.

01 — Represent and identify values

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IDisplay	std.protocol.idisplay	display
IEquality	std.protocol.iequality	equality
IHash	std.protocol.ihash	hash
IHashCached	std.protocol.ihashcached	hash-current, hash-put
INamespaced	std.protocol.inamespaced	name, namespace
IObjType	std.protocol.iobjtype	meta, with-meta
IExInfo	std.protocol.iexinfo	data
IPointer	std.protocol.ipointer	ptr-context, ptr-keys, ptr-val

These protocols keep display, equality, hashing, metadata, naming, error data, and indirect references as deliberate choices rather than one bundled object identity.

02 — Encode values

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IEncode	std.protocol.iencode	encode
IEncodable	std.protocol.iencodable	encode-with
IEncodeVisitor	std.protocol.iencodevisitor	visit-nil, visit-boolean, visit-number, visit-character, visit-string, visit-keyword, visit-symbol, visit-seq, visit-vector, visit-map, visit-set, visit-tagged, visit-unknown

Encoding is separated from the value’s storage and from the concrete output format.

03 — Inspect collections

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
ICount	std.protocol.icount	count
IEmpty	std.protocol.iempty	empty
ILookup	std.protocol.ilookup	lookup
IFind	std.protocol.ifind	find
INth	std.protocol.inth	nth
IIndexed	std.protocol.iindexed	index-of
IIndexedKV	std.protocol.iindexedkv	index-of-key, index-of-val
IPair	std.protocol.ipair	key, value

A collection is not required to inherit from one universal base class. It can provide only the abilities that make sense for its representation.

Work through these contracts in Collection Protocols →{ .md-button .md-button—primary }

04 — Construct and update collections

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IAssoc	std.protocol.iassoc	assoc
IDissoc	std.protocol.idissoc	dissoc
IConj	std.protocol.iconj	conj
ICons	std.protocol.icons	cons
IPeekFirst	std.protocol.ipeekfirst	peek-first
IPeekLast	std.protocol.ipeeklast	peek-last
IPopFirst	std.protocol.ipopfirst	pop-first
IPopLast	std.protocol.ipoplast	pop-last
IPushFirst	std.protocol.ipushfirst	push-first
IPushLast	std.protocol.ipushlast	push-last

The separate contracts make collection direction, update semantics, and return shape visible.

Practice persistent updates and direction →{ .md-button }

05 — Traverse and reduce

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IIter	std.protocol.iiter	iter
IIterator	std.protocol.iiterator	iter-next?, iter-next
IReduce	std.protocol.ireduce	reduce

Persistent collections, lazy sequences, generated values, and one-shot sources can participate in shared algorithms without pretending to have identical resource behaviour.

Acquire and advance an explicit iterator →{ .md-button }

06 — Mark mutability boundaries

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IMutable	std.protocol.imutable	marker protocol
IPersistent	std.protocol.ipersistent	marker protocol
IToMutable	std.protocol.itomutable	to-mutable
IToPersistent	std.protocol.itopersistent	to-persistent

Hara treats mutable and persistent representations as explicit design boundaries.

07 — Work with state and deferred results

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IDeref	std.protocol.ideref	deref
IDerefTimeout	std.protocol.idereftimeout	deref-timeout
IReset	std.protocol.ireset	reset
ICas	std.protocol.icas	cas
IWatch	std.protocol.iwatch	watch-add, watch-remove, watch-list
IRealize	std.protocol.irealize	realized?, realize
IPromise	std.protocol.ipromise	state, value, then, catch, finally, cancel
ICoroutine	std.protocol.icoroutine	status, resume

Reading, replacing, observing, awaiting, settling, cancelling, suspending, and resuming are different capabilities.

Work through these contracts in State and Lifecycle Protocols →{ .md-button .md-button—primary }

08 — Invoke behaviour in a context

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IFn	std.protocol.ifn	invoke
IOFn	std.protocol.iofn	marker protocol
IApplicable	std.protocol.iapplicable	apply-in, apply-default, transform-in, transform-out
IInvokeIn	std.protocol.iinvokein	invoke-in
IContext	std.protocol.icontext	call
IContextLifeCycle	std.protocol.icontextlifecycle	has-module?, setup-module, teardown-module, has-pointer?, setup-pointer, teardown-pointer

These contracts move from calling a function to invoking work inside explicit runtime and transformation contexts.

09 — Assemble live systems

Protocol	Canonical namespace	Methods
IClose	std.protocol.iclose	close
IComponent	std.protocol.icomponent	props, status, started?, stopped?, start, stop, kill, remote?
ISpace	std.protocol.ispace	context-set, context-unset, context-list, context-get, rt-active, rt-get, rt-start, rt-started?, rt-stopped?, rt-stop

Components and runtime spaces make lifecycle, ownership, and active execution visible.

IClose is introduced in the state and lifecycle lab; component and space contracts will form the live-systems lab.

Beyond the foundation

Hara also places portable domain contracts under std.protocol.*. The current standard test family includes IMatch, ITestClock, ITestTimer, ITestControl, ITestRegistry, ITestReporter, and ITestSession.

These demonstrate the larger pattern: a test system is assembled from replaceable contracts for matching, time, cancellation, registration, reporting, execution, results, and closure.

Start the collection lab →{ .md-button .md-button—primary } Continue with state and lifecycle →{ .md-button } Return to Protocols for Builders →{ .md-button }