'Fundamentals' doc: tree nomenclature
'The Tree' section currently has:
The Credit Commons tree is a structure of nodes which potentially connects all nodes, facilitating universal exchange. End users (individual members and small nodes) are known as 'twigs', intermediate nodes which group the twigs are called 'branches' and at the bottom connecting all the branches together is the trunk, or root. This documentation and the code often refer to rootwards, or branchwards as opposing directions, or as relationships e.g. the branchwards node. Each node therefore might have many branches, but only one rootwards node.
I propose a different nomenclature, so that the paragraph would read as follows:
The Credit Commons is a tree structure of nodes which potentially connects all nodes, facilitating universal exchange. The language we use to describe relationships within the tree is as follows:
- The relationship between any pair of connected nodes is a 'parent/child relationship,
- End users (atomic entities as far as the Credit Commons is concerned) are described as 'leaves',
- Nodes without child nodes are known as 'twigs', or 'branch-end' nodes,
- Intermediate nodes - those with child nodes - are called 'branches' (these can also have leaf node child members),
- A node which connects all branches in a tree is called root.
This documentation and the code often refer to rootwards, or leafward as opposing directions, or as relationships e.g. "the leafward node" or "the rootward node".
Any node therefore might have many branches, but only one rootwards node.
I consider this to be clearer, more rigorous and most usefully, less ambiguous.
I'm happy to review the whole of the documentation to implement this change once agreed.