Reading Your First Amorfs Document

What is the Amorfs Format?

Amorfs is a human-readable data format that sits somewhere between YAML and RDF - designed for both humans to edit and machines to process.

Think of it as the "source code" of your data that anyone can read and understand.

The Two Magic Symbols

Amorfs uses just two relationship types to represent any data:

That's it. With just these two symbols, you can represent incredibly complex information.

Reading Your First Example

Let's decode this simple Amorfs snippet:

person [Tim

  - phone [0421042723]

  - email [tim@example.com]

]

How to read it:

1. person [Tim → "A person which is 'Tim'"

2. - phone [0421042723] → "has a phone which is '0421042723'"

3. - email [tim@example.com] → "has an email which is 'tim@example.com'"

In plain English: "A person named Tim has a phone number 042104273 and has an email tim@example.com"

Multiple Expressions: The Power of |

The vertical bar | means "OR" - different ways to express the same concept:

state [NSW | New South Wales]

This says: "A state which is 'NSW' OR 'New South Wales'"

Both expressions point to the same underlying concept. The system knows they're the same thing.

Multi-language example:

country [Australia | Australie | オーストラリア]

Same concept, three languages. The beauty is that the concept graph stays the same regardless of language.

Nesting: Concepts Within Concepts

Square brackets can nest to any depth:

payment_card [

  - number [4532 1234 5678 9010]

  - expiry [12/25]

  - type [Visa]

  - billing_address [

    - street [123 Main St]

    - city [Sydney]

    - postcode [2000]

  ]

]

Each level of nesting represents a concept that "has a" relationship with sub-concepts.

Practical Reading Exercise

Let's read a real-world example:

university [Oxford

  - fellow [C. S. Lewis

    - birth_date [19 Nov 1898]

    - college [Magdalen College

      - address [

        - city [Oxford]

        - postcode [OX1 4AU]

        - country [UK]

      ]

    ]

  ]

]

Breaking it down:

• Oxford university has a fellow which is C. S. Lewis

• C. S. Lewis has a birth date which is 19 Nov 1898

• C. S. Lewis has a college which is Magdalen College

• Magdalen College has an address

• That address has a city which is Oxford

• That address has a postcode which is OX1 4AU

• That address has a country which is UK

The Beautiful Part: Self-Organization

When you provide alternative expressions later, Amorfs automatically merges concepts:

Before:

state [NSW]

state [New South Wales]

(Two separate concepts for state)

After you provide both expressions:

state [NSW | New South Wales]

(One unified concept)

All previous references automatically update. The system self-organizes based on the semantics you provide.

Key Takeaways

1. - means "has a" relationship

2. [ ] contains what something "is"

3. | separates multiple expressions of the same concept

4. Nesting captures structure and context

5. The format is both human-readable and machine-parseable

Try It Yourself

Here's a simple structure to practice reading:

book [The Lord of the Rings

  - author [J.R.R. Tolkien | Tolkien]

  - published [1954]

  - genre [Fantasy]

]

Can you read this out loud as relationships?

Next up: "Writing Your First Amorfs Structure" →

Remember: You're not learning a programming language. You're learning a new way to think about data.