Stdlib module json/serialize.vitl

Overview

`json/serialize.vitl` is a public stdlib surface inside the `json` family. It should be read as one focused slice of the broader family responsibility: Structured JSON surfaces including parse, parser, types, builder, schema, stringify, and serialize.

Purpose

This file should be chosen because of responsibility, not because its name “sounds close enough”. Inside the json family, it carries one focused part of the contract and keeps that responsibility separate from neighboring concerns.

• Use this module when structured exchange format is part of the feature, not just an incidental output.
• A build plan can be validated as domain data first and then exported to JSON in a separate step.
• A parser page should say how syntax becomes JSON values before serialization details appear.

Taxonomy

Think of this page as a generated encyclopedia entry rather than a hand-written tutorial. The goal is to show what kind of module this is, how dense it is, and what reading strategy makes sense before depending on it.

• Medium procedure surface: this file groups several related operations behind one namespace.
• Owns domain vocabulary: the module declares data shapes in addition to executable helpers, so its types are part of the contract.
• Minimal top-level dependencies: the module reads as mostly self-contained from its opening declarations.

Implementation profile

This profile is inferred directly from the source text. It does not replace reading the file, but it tells you quickly whether the module is mostly declarative, loop-heavy, branch-heavy, or organized around many small exits.

Top-level API inventory

Imported surfaces

This file does not advertise a top-level `use` surface in its opening declarations. That often means it is either self-contained or an aggregation layer.

Position in family

This file is module 6 of 8 in the json family when ordered by path. By procedure count it ranks 5, and by line count it ranks 8. Those ranks are useful as rough signals of breadth, not as quality judgments.

Declaration map

The declaration map turns raw source into a scan-friendly catalog. It is useful when the file is large enough that a reader wants to orient by kinds of surfaces first.

The table is exhaustive for top-level declarations of the selected kinds. This file declares 12 matching surfaces.

Representative signatures

These signatures are shown in source order so the page keeps the feel of a reference manual, not just a keyword cloud.

• form JsonSerializeManifest { (line 9)
• proc to_json_null() -> int { (line 13)
• proc to_json_bool() -> int { (line 17)
• proc to_json_number() -> int { (line 21)
• proc to_json_string() -> int { (line 25)
• proc to_json_array() -> int { (line 29)
• proc to_json_object() -> int { (line 33)
• proc json_serialize_version() -> int { (line 37)
• proc json_serialize_ready() -> int { (line 41)
• proc json_serialize_manifest() -> int { (line 45)
• proc json_serialize_selftest() -> int { (line 49)

How to use this module

Start by reading the file as an ownership boundary. Ask three questions: what enters this module, what stable types or procedures it exports, and what adjacent module should stay outside of it.

1. Read space and top-level imports first so the ownership boundary of json/serialize.vitl is explicit.
2. Read declared forms and picks before algorithms so the data vocabulary is stable in your head.
3. Traverse procedures in source order; the early helpers usually explain the naming and numeric conventions used later.
4. Only after that compare neighbor modules, because the right boundary choice matters more than memorizing one helper name.

User example

This example is generated from the actual stdlib module surface. Its job is not to be the smallest snippet possible; its job is to show a realistic consumer-shaped file that exercises the module and mirrors the language keywords the module itself relies on.

space demo/json_serialize
form UserReport {
  label: string,
  ready: bool
}
proc run_example() -> UserReport {
    give UserReport { label: "ok", ready: ready }
}

Keyword coverage

This table makes the “all keywords of the module” requirement auditable. It compares the detected Vitte keywords in the source file with the generated consumer example above.

The generated snippet exercises every detected Vitte keyword used by this module.

Source shape

space vitte/stdlib_checked/json_serialize
form JsonSerializeManifest {
  value: int
}
proc to_json_null() -> int {
  give 0
}
proc to_json_bool() -> int {
  give 0
}

The excerpt is not meant to replace the file. It exists to make the module recognizable at first glance, the same way a Wikipedia infobox helps the reader orient before reading the whole article.

Source landmarks

Large files are easier to retain when they have visible landmarks. When the source contains explicit section banners, they are surfaced here; otherwise the first major declarations are used as anchors.

• Line 1: space vitte/stdlib_checked/json_serialize
• Line 9: form JsonSerializeManifest {
• Line 13: proc to_json_null() -> int {
• Line 17: proc to_json_bool() -> int {
• Line 21: proc to_json_number() -> int {
• Line 25: proc to_json_string() -> int {
• Line 29: proc to_json_array() -> int {
• Line 33: proc to_json_object() -> int {

Source organization

When a file carries its own internal chaptering, those chapters usually reveal the intended reading order better than a flat symbol list. This section reconstructs that organization from the source itself.

Complete API catalog

This catalog is the exhaustive file-level index for the module. It is intentionally closer to a generated encyclopedia appendix than to a tutorial summary.

Data surfaces

Procedures

Integration boundaries

Within json, this file should remain focused. If a future helper changes the host boundary, scheduling boundary, or data-shape boundary, it probably belongs in a neighbor module instead of being added here by convenience.

• Family responsibility: Structured JSON surfaces including parse, parser, types, builder, schema, stringify, and serialize.
• Family architecture role: Use `json` when data must cross a structured textual boundary. This family owns JSON shape and conversion, not business validation itself.

Composition guidance

Choose this module when

• Choose json/serialize.vitl when the main question is owned by this module rather than by transport, storage, orchestration, or user-interface code.
• Use this module when structured exchange format is part of the feature, not just an incidental output.
• A build plan can be validated as domain data first and then exported to JSON in a separate step.
• A parser page should say how syntax becomes JSON values before serialization details appear.

Pause before extending it when

• Avoid extending this file when the new helper mostly changes the boundary to host I/O, runtime coordination, or foreign integration instead of staying inside json.
• Check nearby modules such as json/builder.vitl, json/parse.vitl, json/parser.vitl before adding convenience wrappers here.

Relationship table

This table keeps the page closer to a real encyclopedia entry: a module is easier to understand when compared with its nearest alternatives in the same family.

Neighbor modules

• json/builder.vitl
• json/parse.vitl
• json/parser.vitl
• json/schema.vitl
• json/stringify.vitl
• json/types.vitl
• json.vitl