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You're reading from  Blockchain Quick Reference

Product typeBook
Published inAug 2018
Reading LevelIntermediate
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781788995788
Edition1st Edition
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Authors (4):
Brenn Hill
Brenn Hill
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Brenn Hill

Brenn Hill is a senior software engineer who has worked with such clients as NASCAR, PGA Tour, Time Warner Cable, and many others. He has experience leading international teams on cannot fail engineering projects. He strives to work with business to ensure that tech projects achieve good ROI and solve key business problems. He has a master's degree in Information Science from UNC-CH and currently travels the world as a digital nomad.
Read more about Brenn Hill

Samanyu Chopra
Samanyu Chopra
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Samanyu Chopra

Samanyu Chopra is a developer, entrepreneur, and Blockchain supporter with wide experience of conceptualizing, developing, and producing computer and mobile software's. He has been programming since the age of 11. He is proficient in programming languages such as JavaScript, Scala, C#, C++, Swift, and so on. He has a wide range of experience in developing for computers and mobiles. He has been a supporter of Bitcoin and blockchain since its early days and has been part of wide-ranging decentralized projects since a long time. You can write a tweet to him at @samdonly1.
Read more about Samanyu Chopra

Paul Valencourt
Paul Valencourt
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Paul Valencourt

Paul Valencourt is CFO of BlockSimple Solutions. He currently helps people launch STOs and invest in cryptocurrency mining.
Read more about Paul Valencourt

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The chain between blocks

In addition to the transaction ledger, each block typically contains some additional metadata. The metadata includes the following:

  • A reference to the prior block
  • Metadata about the network
  • The Merkle root of the transactions, which acts as a check of the validity of the block

These basics tend to be common for all blockchains. Ethereum, Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others use this common pattern, and this pattern is what makes it a chain. Each chain also tends to include other metadata that is specific to that ecosystem, and those differences will be discussed in future chapters. Here is an example from the Bitcoin blockchain:

By Satoshi Nakamoto: http://Bitcoin.org/Bitcoin.pdf, MIT, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24542868

If you are asking, What is a Merkle root?, that brings us to our next set of key concepts: hashing and signature.

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Blockchain Quick Reference
Published in: Aug 2018Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781788995788

Authors (4)

author image
Brenn Hill

Brenn Hill is a senior software engineer who has worked with such clients as NASCAR, PGA Tour, Time Warner Cable, and many others. He has experience leading international teams on cannot fail engineering projects. He strives to work with business to ensure that tech projects achieve good ROI and solve key business problems. He has a master's degree in Information Science from UNC-CH and currently travels the world as a digital nomad.
Read more about Brenn Hill

author image
Samanyu Chopra

Samanyu Chopra is a developer, entrepreneur, and Blockchain supporter with wide experience of conceptualizing, developing, and producing computer and mobile software's. He has been programming since the age of 11. He is proficient in programming languages such as JavaScript, Scala, C#, C++, Swift, and so on. He has a wide range of experience in developing for computers and mobiles. He has been a supporter of Bitcoin and blockchain since its early days and has been part of wide-ranging decentralized projects since a long time. You can write a tweet to him at @samdonly1.
Read more about Samanyu Chopra

author image
Paul Valencourt

Paul Valencourt is CFO of BlockSimple Solutions. He currently helps people launch STOs and invest in cryptocurrency mining.
Read more about Paul Valencourt