An electronic neural core circuit, comprising: a plurality of dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) that are collectively serviced over time to evolve respective compartment states, wherein each servicing corresponds to a neuromorphic time step, and each compartment comprises a state variable representing a state of the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B); wherein the neural core circuit is configured to perform operations to, for a dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) during the neuromorphic time step: a) receive a synaptic input; b) perform a state variable operation utilizing: 1) a stored state variable that was stored in the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) prior to receipt of the synaptic input, and 2) the synaptic input, thereby producing a state variable result; c) perform a join operation utilizing: 1) the state variable result, 2) input from a state variable from another compartment (200, 200', A, B) that has been previously serviced, and 3) a join operation configuration that is stored in or associated with the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B), thereby producing a join operation result; and d) produce a state variable output based on the join operation; wherein the neural core circuit is further configured to service two or more of the dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) which are arranged in a hierarchical dendrite tree structure, and produce a spiking event from only the highest dendritic compartment at the root of the hierarchical dendrite tree structure; and wherein each dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) of the plurality of dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) comprises a stack implemented with electronic circuits and configuration bits encoding stack semantics. a plurality of dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) that are collectively serviced over time to evolve respective compartment states, wherein each servicing corresponds to a neuromorphic time step, and each compartment comprises a state variable representing a state of the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B); wherein the neural core circuit is configured to perform operations to, for a dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) during the neuromorphic time step: a) receive a synaptic input; b) perform a state variable operation utilizing: 1) a stored state variable that was stored in the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) prior to receipt of the synaptic input, and 2) the synaptic input, thereby producing a state variable result; c) perform a join operation utilizing: 1) the state variable result, 2) input from a state variable from another compartment (200, 200', A, B) that has been previously serviced, and 3) a join operation configuration that is stored in or associated with the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B), thereby producing a join operation result; and d) produce a state variable output based on the join operation; a) receive a synaptic input; b) perform a state variable operation utilizing: 1) a stored state variable that was stored in the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) prior to receipt of the synaptic input, and 2) the synaptic input, thereby producing a state variable result; c) perform a join operation utilizing: 1) the state variable result, 2) input from a state variable from another compartment (200, 200', A, B) that has been previously serviced, and 3) a join operation configuration that is stored in or associated with the dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B), thereby producing a join operation result; and d) produce a state variable output based on the join operation; service two or more of the dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) which are arranged in a hierarchical dendrite tree structure, and produce a spiking event from only the highest dendritic compartment at the root of the hierarchical dendrite tree structure; and wherein each dendritic compartment (200, 200', A, B) of the plurality of dendritic compartments (200, 200', A, B) comprises a stack implemented with electronic circuits and configuration bits encoding stack semantics.