Notationsbinary

Notationsbinary is a proposed binary encoding standard for representing symbolic notations in a compact, machine-readable form. It targets mathematical expressions, programming language grammars, and linguistic annotations, aiming to preserve structural information while enabling efficient storage and transmission.

Encoding model and structure: The format encodes notation as a stream of tokens with binary tags and payloads. A grammar description file defines production rules and symbol definitions, allowing a decoder to construct an abstract syntax tree. A header provides version, schema references, and optional metadata such as provenance or annotations. Notationsbinary emphasizes extensibility through a modular tag set and backward-compatible updates.

Semantics and interoperability: The standard is designed to be language-agnostic, supporting Unicode identifiers and common mathematical and programming constructs. Implementations typically include reference decoders and encoders, plus conversion tools to/from textual representations like LaTeX, source code, or MathML. The format is intended for use in digital libraries, computational knowledge graphs, and high-performance tooling needing fast serialization of parse trees.

Advantages and challenges: Binary encoding reduces text-based overhead and can improve parsing speed in large-scale systems. It also enables compact network transmission and deterministic decoding. However, adoption requires toolchain development, and ensuring lossless round-tripping with existing notation formats can be nontrivial. Community-driven profiles may address domain-specific needs (e.g., math, code, linguistics) within the same framework.

Relation to related concepts: Notationsbinary shares goals with other binary serialization schemes that encode structured data, but it differentiates itself by focusing on symbol-level notations and grammar-aware encoding. See also CBOR, BSON, and syntax-aware serialization concepts.