Metrics

[andrew-johnson-4]

Metrics are multipoint integers that can be sorted according to their first digits. For example the polynomial x^5+2x^3 could be reduced to simply (Polynomial, 5) or equivalently Polynomial.5 with a single point. Other complexity classes could be describe as (Exponential, 2) for 2^x or something like this.

To sort, the first number is compared, then next after the point, and further on. This is a fairly simple order that can describe a lot of different shapes.

[andrew-johnson-4]

Some terms might not exist until they are needed. So metric specialization can potentially touch terms that are not further processed if not selected. Locally they should behave like a hard declared term, but might need no further processing if not chosen.