A few days ago, on the #syndicate IRC channel, user observeSynd (maybe observeSyndicate?) asked a few good questions:

1. Can I take ‘endpoints’ as discussed in the dissertation to be the same thing as ‘entities’ as outlined in the Synit SAM (chapter 18) theory section?
2. Are there any examples in any of the implemetations showcasing how (nested) facets work?
3. Have any of the implementations documented their DSL as would be found at https://syndicate-lang.org/doc/syndicate/ ?

Here are my (short) answers:

1. Endpoints aren’t quite entities, but they’re related. Entities are a later development. They’re much closer to traditional actor references or, even closer still, to E-style object references. Endpoints are a kind of intermediate concept: they’re a combination of a pattern, a subscription, and an object reference. I think the entity-based approach is cleaner, and in hindsight, they were not well described in my dissertation. Perhaps this was a clue that there was something simpler lurking underneath, waiting to be discovered and described.

2. Nested facets: yes, throughout the available examples. However, nesting of facets isn’t lexically apparent, so you have to read the program while imagining the dynamics.

3. Sadly, there’s no documentation of the DSLs yet. I’m embarrassed about this. Hopefully I’ll find time to rectify the situation soon! I’m afraid the various example programs are the only references out there right now.