1. A networking device for controlling operation of a compute node coupled to a computer network, the networking device comprising: a memory having stored therein persistent instructions for providing control functions to the networking device, wherein the control functions are defined at least in part by protocol data; an update control module for receiving update data from a remote node in the computer network, the update data comprising new protocol data for the persistent instructions; a protocol parser module for parsing the update data and generating metadata relating to the update data without a reset of the networking device; a classifier module for receiving rules for the control functions, wherein the rules are based at least in part on the update data and metadata; and a compiler module for compiling the parsed update data to the persistent instructions for providing new control functions to the networking device based at least in part on the received rules.