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tif1 STE100 House Style Guide

This guide defines how all documentation under docs/ is written. It implements the ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (Issue 9, 2025-01-15) approach, adapted for a Python library reference. ASD-STE100 and its dictionary are copyrighted by ASD, Brussels. This guide is a paraphrase produced for internal use. It never reproduces rule or dictionary text. Request the free official copy at the ASD download form: https://www.asd-ste100.org/STE_downloads.html

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1. Scope

This guide governs every .mdx and .md file under docs/, including the three non-navigation files (README.md, VERSIONING.md, design_language.md). The following text is exempt and is never rewritten:
  • Fenced code blocks and inline code.
  • CLI output and exception messages shown verbatim.
  • URLs, file paths, and frontmatter YAML keys.
  • Proper nouns: drivers, teams, circuits, companies, CDN names.
  • Signatures and identifier names in parameter tables.
Frontmatter title, description, and sidebarTitle values are prose. They follow this guide. keywords values stay unchanged to preserve search indexing.

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2. Genre map

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3. Vocabulary rules

  • V1 Use each approved word only as one part of speech.
  • V2 Use each word with one meaning only. Do not alternate synonyms for the same concept. Pick one word per concept and use it on every page.
  • V3 Use a word from the Technical Names register (Section 6) only as a noun. Never use a technical name as a verb.
  • V4 Do not use jargon, slang, idioms, or figurative language.
  • V5 Do not use marketing or intensity words. State measurable facts instead.
  • V6 Do not use contractions. Write the full form (do not, cannot).
  • V7 Use the shortest approved form that keeps the meaning.
  • V8 Do not make noun clusters longer than three consecutive nouns.
  • V9 Keep articles (a, an, the). Do not omit them to save space.
  • V10 Address the reader with imperative sentences. Do not use you or we. When an actor is needed, use tif1 as the subject (tif1 recommends).
  • V11 Replace every word in the substitution table (Section 4) with its approved form.

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4. Substitution table

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5. Sentence and structure rules

  • S1 Procedural sentence: maximum 20 words. Descriptive sentence: maximum 25 words. Split longer sentences.
  • S2 One instruction or one topic per sentence.
  • S3 Start each instructional step with an imperative verb, present simple, active voice.
  • S4 Use active voice. Use passive voice only in descriptive text where the actor is unknown or not relevant.
  • S5 Use simple tenses. Do not use will or shall to describe what a procedure does.
  • S6 Start warnings and cautions with Warning: or Caution:. Give one topic per warning. Put each warning before the step it qualifies.
  • S7 Give one action per numbered step. Keep steps in execution order.
  • S8 Keep vertical lists short and parallel. Introduce each list with a lead-in sentence.
  • S9 Prefer tables for parameter and reference data. Identifier cells are exempt.
  • S10 Do not use ambiguous conjunctions (see V11 last row).

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6. Technical Names register

Technical names are approved as nouns only.
  • tif1 API: Session, Laps, Lap, Telemetry, Driver, SessionResults, DriverResult, CircuitInfo, LazyTelemetryDict, PayloadLoader, SessionMemo, CDNManager, Config, Cache, LRU cache, SQLite cache, cache tier, memo, fast telemetry, mini-sector, backend (pandas, polars)
  • Python: module, package, class, function, method, argument, keyword argument, return value, type hint, decorator, exception, traceback, iterator, context manager, virtual environment, dependency, DataFrame, Series
  • Formula 1: telemetry, sector, stint, DRS, downforce, compound, tire degradation, lap delta, speed trace, track map, qualifying, race control messages, pole position
  • Infrastructure: CDN, StaticDelivr, jsDelivr, Hugging Face bucket, circuit breaker, retry, backoff, jitter, HTTP/2, multiplexing, cache hit, cache miss, hot cache

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7. Frontmatter

  • F1 Write title, description, and sidebarTitle to this guide.
  • F2 Do not change keywords.
  • F3 Give every page a description of 160 characters or fewer.

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8. Decisions and deviations register

Owner decisions recorded 2026-09-02: Deviations from ASD-STE100 (each entry records a deliberate, bounded departure):

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9. Checker

tools/ste_check.py enforces the rules that a machine can test: contractions, banned words, marketing terms, sentence length, and/or, and second-person text. It skips code blocks, tables, and inline code. The checker is a heuristic gate. Human review against this guide is the authority. Run it:
Last modified on September 2, 2026