[aristus]

No, you're right. The first chapter is allegory. Lauren is literally attacked by the Jargon. You're not supposed to understand all those words. They are Jargon. :) Not much learning happens in chapter 0 but it sets up the rest of the story.

There's a (very early) draft of a later chapter available: http://carlos.bueno.org/2011/01/tortoise.html

I do not actually explain red-black trees in the book, nor most of the things the Jargon say. There is a lot of ground to cover and I stuck to the stuff I understand best.