83c5cb8500
Records the journal scaffold + retroactive-entries + Julia migration
+ Pluto app work, with \apass{} markers for content that should be
expanded in a later A-pass. Keeps the discipline going from the
night the journal stood up.
Easter eggs:
- ASCII reactor + primary loop in journal/README.md (subtle, shows
where Q_sg flows in as a disturbance).
- Garden-lyric reference embedded in pke_params.jl docstring
("looks ordinary on the surface but is something else underneath")
— same lyric as the preamble.tex comment, referencing the name
behind Split. Hacker-Split's signature.
- 🦎 in the Pluto notebook header + closer.
Nothing functional, nothing that clutters the substance.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Lab Journal
___
,' `.
/ ___ \ n, C_i,
| ( UO2 ) | T_f, T_c, T_cold
\ ‾‾‾ / |
`.___,' v
||||| →→→→ [ controller ] →→→→ rods
|||||
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ primary loop
___________
| SG | Q_sg(t) ∈ [Q_min, Q_max]
|____________|
The HAHACS invention log for the pwr-hybrid-3-demo preliminary
example. Each dated session gets an entry. The goal: a reader in 2030
should be able to rebuild the thesis work from this journal alone.
Structure
journal/
preamble.tex shared LaTeX setup (fonts, listings, callouts, macros)
journal.tex top-level aggregator (builds all entries into one PDF)
entries/ dated session entries, one file per session
YYYY-MM-DD-{topic-slug}.tex
figures/ journal-specific figures (referenced from entries)
README.md this file
Conventions
Filename
entries/YYYY-MM-DD-{topic-slug}.tex. One file per session. If a day has multiple distinct sessions, use time-of-day in the slug (e.g., 2026-04-20-morning-predicates.tex and 2026-04-20-evening-mega-session.tex).
Entry skeleton
\session{2026-04-17}{duration}{one-line summary}
\section{Session: ... (YYYY-MM-DD)}
\label{sec:YYYYMMDD}
\subsection*{Goal}
What I set out to do and why.
\subsection*{What landed}
...
\subsection*{Key decisions}
...
\subsection*{Dead ends}
...
\subsection*{Derivations}
...
\subsection*{Results}
...
\subsection*{Limitations recorded}
...
\subsection*{Open at close}
...
Entries compile standalone (each starts with \input{../preamble.tex} wrapped in a conditional so it only pulls preamble when not already loaded by journal.tex), or together via journal.tex.
Two entry styles
- A-style (deep / invention-log): full derivations, code commentary, dead-ends, embedded figures, terminal output where useful. Used for retroactive entries and sessions that land meaningful artifacts.
- B-style (narrative + pointers): end-of-session notes. Uses
\apass{...}callouts to flag spots that need a later A-pass.
Callout boxes
From preamble.tex:
| Environment | Use |
|---|---|
derivation |
Math derivations |
decision |
Design choices with rationale + alternatives |
deadend |
Paths that didn't work |
limitation |
Soundness gaps, known-approximate behavior |
Plus the inline \apass{text} marker for A-pass TODOs.
Code inclusion
\juliafile[options]{path/to/file.jl}— includes a Julia source file as a numbered listing.\matlabfile[...]{...}— for MATLAB sources.- Or inline with
lstlistingenvironment andlanguage=Juliafor snippets.
Always include the path as the listing caption so readers can find the file.
Figures
Figures live in ../docs/figures/ (shared with the thesis) or figures/ (journal-only). The preamble sets \graphicspath to check both.
Always include:
- A descriptive caption (what's on axes, what's being shown).
- A discussion in the surrounding prose — what the figure proves or illustrates. Figures without discussion are noise.
Terminal output
For a numerical result or an error that drove a decision, include the actual terminal text in a lstlisting block with style=terminal:
\begin{lstlisting}[style=terminal]
TMJets: 10583 reach-sets
T_c envelope: [274.45, 295.0] C
FAILED: AssertionError: radius must be nonnegative
\end{lstlisting}
Don't include full logs — only the lines that changed what you did next.
Build
cd journal
latexmk -pdf journal.tex # whole journal as one PDF
latexmk -pdf entries/2026-04-17-controllers-linear-reach.tex # one entry
Requires TeX Live with tcolorbox, listings, inconsolata, siunitx, cleveref, hyperref, fancyhdr. All in the standard distribution.
Not a replacement for
claude_memory/— short AI-context notes, Markdown, different audience.reachability/WALKTHROUGH.md— standalone doc summarizing current state of reach analysis.- Git commit messages — per-commit rationale for code changes.
The journal is the chronological narrative of the work. The others are snapshots, summaries, or pointers. They're all legitimate; they do different things.