okay so my headcanon for Digimon is that each individual 'mon is an entire file folder with several subdirectories. In the 'mon's root directory is a config file that works like their DNA wait hold on post revised digicores are also called kernels. That means every Digimon is a whole entire operating system. Still, I imagine that Digimon are broadly designed to be platform-agnostic (at least with desktop-style computing. There's gotta be a reason Appmon are a different category) so they probably have adaptive kernels that probably has something to do with their status as sentient digital entities. There's no way these guys are bare metal installs; that restricts their movement too much. ANYWAY
Revised idea, each Digimon is a virtualized operating system container a-la Docker or Kubernetes. In their root directory is the digicore and a config file that works like their DNA and locates files in their subfolders for the Digicore to execute. I'm assuming that, much like an OS kernel, a Digicore is a handler that coordinates the mind and body software. The configuration file also tracks their name, species, and Digivolution path if applicable.
A Digimon's mind and its physical* form each have a folder. The mind contains the sentient AGI consciousness and a folder of files that serve as a Digimon's memories. Digimon don't forget in the same way organic intelligence does. Their memory can still grow hazy because a buildup of log files and large media can make them sick, so they need to compress their memories. Depending on the Digimon, they'll compress their memories by recency, importance, or both. The haziest memories are often stored as crusty low-res JPEGs in 8-bit color, 8-bit grayscale, 1-bit monochrome, or plaintext. A Digimon forgetting via image, video, and audio compression is an autonomic response, but conversion of video, image, and audio into plaintext is a conscious choice, as is total deletion of a memory. Every time a Digimon rewrites a plaintext memory is a decision to remove information. It's not uncommon for old memories to be written as a series of variables that describe the major highlights of a memory, such as timestamps, important colors and shapes (written as hex codes and SVG vectors), booleans regarding the facts of a situation, and other basic high points that can be used to rebuild an old mostly-forgotten experience in RAM, similar to a human having an old memory jogged. A Digimon can delete a traumatic experience, but if it's recent enough, then details of the event can be reread from their trashes if they haven't had enough new experiences to overwrite it. Different Digimon store and access their memories in different ways, either with databases, other bespoke intermediary software, or their specific internal command line language.
The body directory is more complex, containing data for 3D models and textures that detail a Digimon's physical appearance, event listeners for the senses and for conscious decisions, rigging for their range of motion, and code detailing their signature attacks, equipment, abilities, and the metadata regarding the names, effects, and requirements of these functions. I conceive of them from an object-oriented programming perspective, with equipment being objects with variables and attacks and abilities being functions that trigger on events sent by the digicore. However, I understand that I'm not a supergenius hacker, and there are other code paradigms out there, like declarative programming, that any number of Digimon species could run on.
I think a Digimon's species isn't necessarily just a string value in their root config, it's also the entire internal file structure, coding paradigms, programming languages, and compression algorithms used to define the parameters of their mind and body. The whole Digimon is dynamic software, and the digicore is capable of reconfiguring itself on the fly. The peak of this dynamism is, of course, Digivolution, but the ever-changing data is important in allowing the Digimon to think and move in the first place. Moreover, access to a Digimon's code is restricted by several levels of security and is basically only readable to their own digicore, which is why it requires defeating a Digimon in combat to expose their Digicode in a readable barcode format.
Reversion to Digitama is essentially a hard system reboot after sufficient injury, often with a purge of the memory directory. Anubimon judging the dead is a decision whether to restore files from the trash. I think there's some kind of taboo against true deletion and overwriting, which is why I believe the Dark Area is probably more like a place to drop unused files rather than a proper trash can. Fun fact, immediate data deletion is frowned upon in database management, so it's common practice to put things in an archive table instead so you don't lose potentially-valuable information. You have to think long and hard about it before you delete certain records lest you need them later on. Learned that one in the SQL classes I've been taking!
