{ "model": { "rank": 8747, "code": "thing-q190686", "model_id": "vr.tr.subroutine", "name": "subroutine", "purpose": "Let an agent explain subroutines and their variants across languages, help design, document and test functions, and explain calling conventions and recursion.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q190686/", "tier": 2, "score": 50, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "recursive function", "factory method", "static method", "SPARQL function", "shell function", "generic method", "builtin function", "interrupt handler", "intrinsic function", "functions in JavaScript", "program module", "wrapper function", "aggregate function", "null function", "helper function", "stored procedure", "functional", "window function" ], "aliasCount": 18, "merged": 18, "knownIn": 50, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q190686", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190686", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T20:38:30Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q190686", "registryId": "vr.tr.subroutine", "name": "subroutine", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q190686/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.subroutine", "name": "subroutine", "purpose": "Let an agent explain subroutines and their variants across languages, help design, document and test functions, and explain calling conventions and recursion.", "definition": "A named sequence of instructions in a program that performs a task and can be called from other parts of the program, known variously as a function, procedure, method or routine, taking arguments and often returning values, including recursive functions, static and generic methods, shell functions and functions in query languages; subroutines are the basic unit of code reuse and structure.", "what_it_is_for": "Structuring and reusing code.", "affordances": [ "explain functions, procedures and methods", "design clear function interfaces", "explain recursion and calling conventions", "test and document functions" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Named and callable", "Parameters and returns", "Reusable", "Language-specific forms" ], "appearance": "Not physical; blocks of code with names and parameters.", "visual_identification": [ "Named callable block", "Parameters and return values", "A macro expands text rather than being called" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "functions and procedures", "methods including static and generic methods", "recursive functions", "shell and script functions", "functions in query and domain languages" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "language construct", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "control flow", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is written in", "target": "computer programming", "why": "activity" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "hierarchy", "why": "call hierarchies" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Language specifications", "Coding standards and style guides" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Side effects and hidden state", "Unbounded recursion", "Poorly defined interfaces" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "concept", "name": "Concept", "description": "What a subroutine is.", "rationale": "Terms across languages.", "layers": [ { "id": "terms", "name": "Terms", "description": "Function, procedure, method.", "findings": [ { "id": "terms-finding", "name": "Terms", "description": "Terms.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does this language call subroutines, and how do functions, procedures and methods differ in it?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What are static, generic and factory methods?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mechanics", "name": "Mechanics", "description": "Calls and returns.", "findings": [ { "id": "mechanics-finding", "name": "Mechanics", "description": "Mechanics.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are arguments passed and values returned in this language, and what is the calling convention?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What happens on the call stack?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "design", "name": "Design", "description": "Writing good functions.", "rationale": "Interfaces.", "layers": [ { "id": "interface", "name": "Interface", "description": "Clear interfaces.", "findings": [ { "id": "interface-finding", "name": "Interface", "description": "Interfaces.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should this function be named, parameterised and documented?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Should it be pure or have side effects?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "size", "name": "Size", "description": "Scope and size.", "findings": [ { "id": "size-finding", "name": "Size", "description": "Scope.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is this function doing too much, and how should it be split?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Which refactoring applies?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "recursion", "name": "Recursion", "description": "Recursive functions.", "rationale": "Base cases.", "layers": [ { "id": "write", "name": "Write", "description": "Writing recursion.", "findings": [ { "id": "write-finding", "name": "Write", "description": "Recursion.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can this problem be solved recursively, with a correct base case?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Is iteration clearer or more efficient?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "limits", "name": "Limits", "description": "Recursion limits.", "findings": [ { "id": "limits-finding", "name": "Limits", "description": "Limits.", "questions": [ { "text": "What stack depth limits apply, and does the language optimise tail calls?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How can deep recursion be avoided?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "quality", "name": "Quality", "description": "Testing and documentation.", "rationale": "Reliability.", "layers": [ { "id": "test", "name": "Test", "description": "Testing functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "test-finding", "name": "Test", "description": "Testing.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should this function be unit tested, including edge cases?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which testing framework applies?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "document", "name": "Document", "description": "Documenting.", "findings": [ { "id": "document-finding", "name": "Document", "description": "Documentation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should the function be documented for callers?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which documentation conventions apply in this language?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should methods be a separate entry?", "How should language references be linked?", "How should testing practices be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a subroutine, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain subroutines and their variants across languages, help design, document and test functions, and explain calling conventions and recursion.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: recursive function, factory method, static method, SPARQL function, shell function, generic method, builtin function, interrupt handler, intrinsic function, functions in JavaScript, program module, wrapper function.", "18 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 50 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a subroutine, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "recursive function", "factory method", "static method", "SPARQL function", "shell function", "generic method", "builtin function", "interrupt handler", "intrinsic function", "functions in JavaScript", "program module", "wrapper function" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 50 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 18 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one subroutine from another, and a subroutine from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a subroutine sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a subroutine from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a subroutine passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a subroutine between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a subroutine, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a subroutine is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What subroutine is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of subroutine are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is subroutine operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of subroutine and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of subroutine?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as subroutine?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a subroutine came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a subroutine and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a subroutine is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a subroutine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a subroutine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a subroutine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }