Scientific Features

How the compiler and stdlib support scientific computing: hypercomplex algebra, ODE/PDE hooks, and domain modules.

Scientific Features

Sounio’s compiler is designed around scientific computing needs: it contains IR-level support for numeric primitives and integrates with a large domain-focused standard library.

This page is a map of where scientific “pillars” live in the codebase.

Hypercomplex Algebra (Quat / Octonion / Sedenion)

The compiler IR contains dedicated numeric types for SIMD- and GPU-friendly math (e.g., Quat, Octonion, Sedenion), with runtime support and GPU kernel implementations.

Key locations:

  • IR type definitions: crates/souc/src/hlir/
  • Native runtime helpers: crates/souc/src/backend/native/
  • GPU kernels and lowering: crates/souc/src/codegen/gpu/

Note: surface-level APIs for these types typically live in stdlib/ modules. The compiler mostly focuses on representation + lowering.

Why Dedicated Types?

These types exist to keep scientific computation:

  • predictable and optimizable (SIMD-friendly layouts)
  • explicit in IR (instead of “just structs everywhere”)
  • portable to GPU lowering paths where layout matters

ODE/PDE and Scientific DSL Hooks

The parser and AST include items intended for scientific DSLs (ODE/PDE, causal models, ontology alignment, etc.). Depending on feature flags and compiler mode, some of these constructs lower into library calls and/or dedicated runtime support.

Practical guidance:

  • If you’re writing user-facing code, prefer the stdlib/ modules and runnable examples.
  • If you’re extending the language, start from the AST item definitions and the lowering path into HIR/HLIR.

Quantum, Geometry, and ML Modules

The compiler crate contains additional scientific subsystems that are typically exercised through stdlib APIs and examples:

  • crates/souc/src/quantum/ — quantum circuit representation and helpers
  • crates/souc/src/geometry/ — geometry/constraint-style modules
  • crates/souc/src/ml/ — ML-related infrastructure and experiments

Standard Library as the Main Surface Area

Many scientific features are primarily delivered through the standard library (ODE solvers, probabilistic tools, causal inference, ML, etc.).

  • docs/STDLIB_REFERENCE.md provides a high-level index of modules and maturity.

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