Documentation

Handbook contents

Getting Started — A first orientation to BlockML and the problems it is designed to solve.
- Introduction to BlockML — What BlockML is and how BML and BOM differ.
- Core Use Cases — The three problems BlockML is designed to solve.
Foundations — Blocks, definitions and instances, inheritance, contracts, and identity.
- Everything Is a Block — BlockML's unifying ontological principle.
- Blocks — Defining, naming, and referencing a Block.
- Block Definitions and Instances — The Block-versus-instance distinction.
- Inheritance — Specialization via baseType.
- Contracts — Composable member fragments distinct from inheritance.
- Namespaces and Fully Qualified Names — Packages, Libraries, and FQNs.
- Identifiers and References — Syntax-only identifiers versus validated references.
The Type System — The four ValueType kinds and generic type parameters.
- The Type System — An overview of the four ValueType kinds.
- Primitive Types — Atomic scalar ValueTypes.
- Struct Types — Composite named-field ValueTypes.
- Enum Types — Closed sets of named values.
- Primitive Entities — Wrapping primitive values as Block instances.
- Types and Values — The general type-versus-value distinction.
- Generic Types — Generic type parameters, binding, and forwarding.
Members — Properties, Aggregations, Associations, and Capabilities.
- Members — An overview of the Block member model.
- Properties — Typed value members.
- Aggregations — Owned collection members.
- Associations — Non-owning instance-to-instance links.
- Capabilities — Block behaviour expressed as members.
- Member Inheritance and Overrides — Combining inherited members with the override flag.
- Visibility — Member and Sub-Block visibility.
- Multiplicity and Collections — Optional, singular, and multiple values.
Behaviour & Values — Constraints, suggestions, expressions, and value configuration.
- Constraints — Declarative validation rules.
- Suggestions — Non-mandatory modeling guidance.
- Expressions — The BlockML expression language.
- Value Configuration — Configuring ValueType instances.
Composition & Structure — Filling aggregations, Sub-Blocks, embedded Blocks, and documentation.
- Composition — Filling aggregations through composition.
- Sub-Blocks — Nested Block definitions.
- Embedded Blocks — Embedded Block definitions and instances.
- Documenting Blocks — The Block documentation model.
BML: The Authoring Format — BML as the human-authored format and its namespace rules.
- BML: The Authoring Format — BML as BlockML's human-authored format.
- BML Namespaces — XML namespace usage in BML.