Quanta: a Language for Modeling and Manipulating Information Structures

Abstract

We present a theory for modeling the structure of information and a language (Quanta) expressing the theory. Unlike Shannon's information theory, which focuses on the amount of information in an information system, we focus on the structure of the information in the system. For example, we can model the information structure corresponding to an algorithm or a physical process such as the structure of a quantum interaction. After a brief discussion of the relation between an evolving state-system and an information structure, we develop an algebra of information pieces (infons) to represent the structure of systems where descriptions of complex systems are constructed from expressions involving descriptions of simpler information systems. We map the theory to the Von Neumann computing model of sequences/conditionals/repetitions, and to the class/object theory of object-oriented programming (OOP).