docs(v4.0.0): talking nodes -- a node is born empty and takes in its first capsule

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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rajames
2026-10-06 07:15:19 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
parent a68ea4841f
commit ae17a1ccf0
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@@ -316,6 +316,15 @@ Rulings on that step so far:
spin; it is blocked reading its ports and wakes when a neighbour writes,
and the console handing it a line is a message arriving on a port like
any other.
- **A node is born empty (ruled, "A").** It has nothing but the ability
to listen: it is blocked reading its ports, and the first thing a
neighbour sends it is a capsule of F18 code, which it takes in and runs,
as an F18 node executes what arrives at its port. StarForth's nucleus is
then itself a capsule — the one that makes an empty node able to digest
FORTH-source capsules — and is named, hashed, signed and recorded in
parity like any other, where today it is linked into the binary. The one
thing every node has, whatever it becomes, is the fixed behaviour at
reset by which it takes in its first capsule.
- **How it grows: "Only the central node can connect to only another
central node."** So the five are a unit: four outer nodes and their
centre. An outer node is wired only inside its own unit. Units are joined