Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Merge pull request #68 from jakobalexander/01_0-edits
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
Update 01_0
  • Loading branch information
Shannon Appelcline committed Nov 20, 2018
2 parents e678d39 + bd897c6 commit 286e715
Showing 1 changed file with 1 addition and 1 deletion.
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion 01_0_Introducing_Bitcoin.md
Expand Up @@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Blockchain is the generalization of the methodology used by Bitcoin to create a

Though you need to understand the basics of how a blockchain works to understand how transactions work in Bitcoin, you won't need to go any further than that. Because blockchains have become a wide category of technology, those basic concepts are likely to be applicable to many other projects in this growing technology sector. The specific programming commands learned in this book will not be, however, as they're fairly specific to Bitcoin (and Lightning).

**_Why Is It Called a Chain?_** Each block in the blockchain stores a hash of the block before it. This links the current block all the way back the original "genesis block" through an unbroken chain. It's a way to create absolute order among possibly conflicting data. This also provides the security of blockchain, because each block stacked atop an old one makes it harder to recreate the old block due to the proof-of-work algorithms used in block creation. Once several blocks have been built atop a block in the chain, it's essentially irreversible.
**_Why Is It Called a Chain?_** Each block in the blockchain stores a hash of the block before it. This links the current block all the way back to the original "genesis block" through an unbroken chain. It's a way to create absolute order among possibly conflicting data. This also provides the security of blockchain, because each block stacked atop an old one makes it harder to recreate the old block due to the proof-of-work algorithms used in block creation. Once several blocks have been built atop a block in the chain, it's essentially irreversible.

**_What is a Fork?_** Occasionally two blocks are created around the same time. This temporarily creates a one-block fork, where either current block could be the "real" one. Every once in a while, a fork might expand to become two blocks, three blocks, or even four blocks long, but pretty quickly one side of the fork is determined to be the real one, and the other is "orphaned". This is part of the stochastic process of block creation, and demonstrates why several blocks must be built atop a block before it can be considered truly trustworthy and non-repudiable.

Expand Down

0 comments on commit 286e715

Please sign in to comment.