Mind · Reasoning
MeaningChangeSweep
When a value's meaning changes, find and recheck every reader of the old meaning
Definition
Mechanism
When the meaning of a value changes while its name, type or position stays, every reader of that value is enumerated before the change is declared done: code paths, tests that compute with it, documents, configuration comments, dashboards, other repositories and hand-copied interfaces. Each reader is updated, rechecked against the new meaning, or recorded as unaffected with a reason. A passing test suite is not evidence of completeness: a test relied on to tell the meanings apart is checked for what it now asserts, for example by running it against the old reading, as in DetectorSelfTest. The sweep is recorded with its search scope, and readers outside that scope are listed as unchecked.
Invariants
- Every reader found is updated, rechecked or recorded as unaffected, with a reason.
- The search scope is recorded, and readers outside it are reported as unchecked.
- A test relied on to distinguish the old meaning from the new counts as checking it only once it has been shown to fail under the old meaning.
Risks
Failure modes
Green suite read as complete
tests that still assert the old meaning pass, so stale readers survive.
Repository boundary
readers in another repository, indexer or client copy are not searched.
Prose readers missed
documents, configuration comments and runbooks keep the old formula.
Name search only
readers that receive the value through a renamed variable or a tuple position are not found.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Infrastructure
Test the detectors that guard a process, so their silence is not mistaken for health
Used by
References
Infrastructure
Change a shared format by adding the new form beside the old, moving every consumer, then removing the old
Bind an implementation to an external specification by a pinned version, a two-way map and a ledger of deviations