Etude VIII

Causal Logs

Causality as partial order; log folding as execution.

Core Notes

A causal log is a partial order, not a list. Folds are legal only when they respect happens-before.

if op_a → op_b then apply(op_a) before apply(op_b)
Stable prefixes are those whose dependencies are closed; they form the boundary of safe merge.

Applied Thread

Applied: deliver ops with dependency vectors, gate execution on missing deps, and surface gaps as actionable alerts.

trace: Def → Check(deps) → Counterexample(missing deps) → Repair(replay)