The syntax of "observe"

[JacquesCarette]

There is a feature, currently called observe which seems to mean the following: given some actual data, posit that this data comes from a particular distribution. It appears to be a way for us to state what we think our prior knowledge of that data's distribution is.

Understanding what we are trying to say with this should be key to its. Note that I consider it completely irrelevant how we treat "observe" internally (i.e. the operational semantics) wrt its name. Only its intuitive denotation should be the principal driving factor behind surface-syntax naming.

Given that, I am still fairly happy with

<measure> describes <data-storage-location>

I still somewhat like explains, but that seems too forceful. from? (with the ? included) would work well (with the arguments flipped, of course).