Weaves, Wires, and Morphisms: Formalizing and Implementing the Algebra of Deep Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Abbott, Vincent, Zardini, Gioele
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Abbott, Vincent
Zardini, Gioele
author_facet Abbott, Vincent
Zardini, Gioele
contents Despite deep learning models running well-defined mathematical functions, we lack a formal mathematical framework for describing model architectures. Ad-hoc notation, diagrams, and pseudocode poorly handle nonlinear broadcasting and the relationship between individual components and composed models. This paper introduces a categorical framework for deep learning models that formalizes broadcasting through the novel axis-stride and array-broadcasted categories. This allows the mathematical function underlying architectures to be precisely expressed and manipulated in a compositional manner. These mathematical definitions are translated into human manageable diagrams and machine manageable data structures. We provide a mirrored implementation in Python (pyncd) and TypeScript (tsncd) to show the universal aspect of our framework, along with features including algebraic construction, graph conversion, PyTorch compilation and diagram rendering. This lays the foundation for a systematic, formal approach to deep learning model design and analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_07242
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Weaves, Wires, and Morphisms: Formalizing and Implementing the Algebra of Deep Learning
Abbott, Vincent
Zardini, Gioele
Machine Learning
Category Theory
Despite deep learning models running well-defined mathematical functions, we lack a formal mathematical framework for describing model architectures. Ad-hoc notation, diagrams, and pseudocode poorly handle nonlinear broadcasting and the relationship between individual components and composed models. This paper introduces a categorical framework for deep learning models that formalizes broadcasting through the novel axis-stride and array-broadcasted categories. This allows the mathematical function underlying architectures to be precisely expressed and manipulated in a compositional manner. These mathematical definitions are translated into human manageable diagrams and machine manageable data structures. We provide a mirrored implementation in Python (pyncd) and TypeScript (tsncd) to show the universal aspect of our framework, along with features including algebraic construction, graph conversion, PyTorch compilation and diagram rendering. This lays the foundation for a systematic, formal approach to deep learning model design and analysis.
title Weaves, Wires, and Morphisms: Formalizing and Implementing the Algebra of Deep Learning
topic Machine Learning
Category Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07242