Extracted from the tensor-formula-viz skill and rebuilt around the idea that the geometry rules should be enforced by construction rather than restated as prose an agent has to remember. - assets/supertensor.sty: faces, stacks, index faces, shared caption lanes, meaning box, signature. Macros take a declared axis and a declared role, so equal shapes get equal edges, a x a is square, a transpose swaps the face, and contracted axes share an edge length -- without any manual alignment. - scripts/preflight.sh: decide the TikZ/CJK path before drawing. - scripts/build.sh: compile and fail on silent corruption (missing CJK glyphs, overfull boxes, undeclared roles), then export pdf/svg/png/thumb. - scripts/test.sh: build every figure as a regression test for the package. - examples/: three golden figures (TP-FFN, causal MHA, MoE top-k gather) plus an anti-pattern gallery of figures that compile cleanly and still lie. - SKILL.md + references/: lean entry point, details loaded on demand.
68 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
68 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# Symbol semantics
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Shape is not meaning. Two tensors of shape `T×k` can be a score matrix, a list of token
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positions, or a Boolean support, and drawing all three the same way is the fastest way to
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mislead a reader who is trying to follow the mechanism.
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## Classify every non-obvious symbol
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For each symbol record: **semantic kind**, **dtype/domain**, **what one entry means**, and
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its **range** when meaningful. Kinds worth separating:
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| kind | example | domain |
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|---|---|---|
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| value / activation | `X`, `H` | ℝ |
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| score / logit | `S = QKᵀ/√d_h` | ℝ |
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| probability | `A = softmax(S)` | [0,1], rows sum to 1 |
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| index / coordinate | `I = TopKIndices(G)` | {0,…,E−1} |
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| rank / order | selected-slot axis `r` | {1,…,k} |
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| count | `n_e` tokens per expert | ℕ |
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| id | token id, device id | opaque |
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| mask / support | `D`, causal `M` | {0,1} or {0,−∞} |
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| permutation | gather order | bijection |
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| shape parameter | `p`, `h` | ℕ, not drawn as a tensor |
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## One block, one object
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Never merge a score, an index list and a mask under a label like `M/S`. Each conversion
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gets an explicit operator and arrow. For selection or routing, close the entire chain:
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```
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continuous scores → discrete indices/ids → gather / scatter / mask / route → selected values
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```
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`TopKValues` and `TopKIndices` are different tensors; if both are used, show both.
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## Three grammars, deliberately different
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| object | grammar | package |
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|---|---|---|
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| value / score / probability | magnitude — three separated lightness levels | `\stface[pattern=dense]` |
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| index / id | discrete symbols in outlined cells, **no** lightness ramp | `\stindexface{...}{entries}` |
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| mask / support | one flat level, exact structure, zeros unfilled | `\stface[pattern=causal, level=3]` or `pattern=data` |
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`examples/moe-topk-gather.tex` puts all three in one figure on purpose. The reason indices
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get no ramp: a ramp invites the reader to compare `expert 3 > expert 0` as if the number
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were a size.
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## Notation duties
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- Define index notation and range at first use:
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`S_t = (s_{t,1},…,s_{t,k})`, `s_{t,r} ∈ {0,…,t}`.
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- Distinguish the *source-position* axis `s` from the *selected-slot* axis `r`, and say
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whether ordering, duplicates, padding or variable cardinality matter.
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- Show the address mapping once: `G[b,t,r,:] = X[b, S[b,t,r], :]`.
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- If a mask is shown alongside the index tensor, state `M[b,t,s] = 1[s ∈ S_{b,t}]` — do not
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let the figure imply they are the same object.
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- When one selector is shared across heads, ranks or branches, draw it **once** and mark
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the broadcast/reuse axis. A per-head copy of a shared mask is a false claim about memory
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and about the computation (`examples/mha-causal.tex`: `M` is a single face while `A` is a
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three-sheet stack).
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## Colors carry semantics too
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One tensor role keeps one hue for the whole figure — that is what `\stsetrole` is for. A
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gathered, resharded or regrouped view of the same data keeps the *same* role color; a new
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hue means a new object. Derived tensors may reuse their parent's family rather than
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spending a hue (`V → O → Y` in the MHA example are all violet).
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