The Oculus Trinity

Everything is prose, code, and data at once. The difference is which lens you use.

The Triangle

Every Transform is One Step

Code and Data are one step apart. Execute in one direction, print in the other.

The Homoiconic Property

Everything is all three simultaneously:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  A YAML fence is:                           │
│                                             │
│  • PROSE  - it's text in a markdown file    │
│  • CODE   - it's parseable syntax           │
│  • DATA   - it's structured key-values      │
│                                             │
│  Which one? Depends what you DO with it.    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

A TODO list in prose is:

• Prose when you read it
• Data when you query its items
• Code when you execute toggle/add/remove

Pokémon but for Documents

Like type matchups, but for content:

Transform to the type that wins your current battle.

Failed Transforms

Errors Are Data

Execution always returns data. If it fails, the data describes the failure:

# Success
{"success": True, "value": {"items": [...]}}

# Failure  
{"success": False, "error": "SyntaxError", "message": "unexpected EOF", "stack_trace": "..."}

The arrow Content → Data never breaks. You always get data back.

Then:

• Middleware sees error flag, renders appropriately
• Transformers handle it like any other data
• Error-data → Prose: render an error message
• Error-data → Code: generate retry logic
• The trinity still works

No exceptions bubbling. No special error paths. Just data that happens to describe a failure.

The Graph is THE Interface

All access goes through the graph:

• Want tokens? → Graph
• Want data? → Graph
• Want to transform? → Graph

The graph mediates all views. One interface, infinite perspectives.

See Also

• [[oculus-homoiconicity]] - the read-write-execute principle
• [[oculus-cache-architecture]] - how transforms are cached
• [[oculus-path-resolution]] - unified addressing for all types

North

slots:
- context:
  - The trinity enables homoiconicity
  slug: oculus-homoiconicity
- context:
  - Linking trinity to homoiconicity
  slug: oculus-homoiconicity

West

slots:
- context:
  - Transforms are cached at the compose level
  slug: oculus-cache-architecture
- context:
  - Linking trinity to cache architecture
  slug: oculus-cache-architecture
- context:
  - Linking verification to trinity - the transformation matrix it references
  slug: wanderland-paper-verification

East

slots:
- context:
  - All types use the same addressing
  slug: oculus-path-resolution
- context:
  - Linking path-resolution to trinity
  slug: oculus-path-resolution