Semantics First. Everything Else Is Projection.
Cohesive is built on a simple but strict premise:
The semantics of a system are primary. Structure, storage, APIs, workflows, and UIs are projections.
This page is not required reading. Engineers can adopt Cohesive pragmatically through entities, transitions, processes, relations, and host integrations. But for those who want to understand the deeper grounding—this is the gateway.
- Semantics First. Everything Else Is Projection.
- Why Semantics?
- What Is Semantic Systems Engineering?
- Practical Implication
- A Cohesive Whole
- Further Details
- References
Why Semantics?
Most software systems are assembled from frameworks outward:
- ORM → database schema
- Controller → endpoint
- Queue → handler
- UI → view model
- Microservice → API contract
Semantics emerge implicitly, scattered across code, infrastructure, and glue. Cohesive inverts this. We begin with:
- State spaces
- Allowed transitions
- Relations
- Process coordination
- Observable projections
Everything else—persistence, distribution, execution strategy, indexing, presentation—is derived. This is the foundation of Semantic Systems Engineering (SSE).
What Is Semantic Systems Engineering?
Semantic Systems Engineering unifies:
- Domain modeling
- Process modeling
- Runtime execution
- Projection and indexing
- API and UI generation
- Durable orchestration
- Distributed coordination
into a single semantic core. At the center is:
- A language that captures system meaning
- An intermediate representation (IR) that formalizes it
- A runtime that executes it
The language captures what the system means. The runtime captures how those meanings are realized.
Practical Implication
For engineers: you do not need category theory, you do not need process calculus, you do not need formal verification. Instead, you define:
- Entities
- Transitions
- Processes
- Relations
The semantics are explicit. The projections follow.
For researchers and architects, Cohesive offers:
- A formalizable semantic core
- A runtime with clear execution boundaries
- A platform amenable to static analysis
- A path toward verification
- A bridge between mathematical systems theory and industrial software
A Cohesive Whole
The name is literal, Cohesive:
- Centers meaning
- Projects structure
- Separates semantics from execution
- Unifies modeling and runtime
- Bridges theory and production
It is new as a methodology. But its parts are not new. It gathers:
- Category theory
- Concurrency theory
- Formal methods
- Compiler architecture
- Runtime design
- Domain-driven design
into a single coherent system. That is the foundation.
Further Details
Semantic Systems Engineering
Cohesive Systems Language
Cohesive Systems Runtime
Cohesive Systems ArchitectureReferences
Cohesive Building Blocks
Cohesive Systems Overview
Cohesive Perspectives
Cohesive in Context
Cohesive & AI