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Glossary

Eric Voskuil edited this page Jul 30, 2017 · 139 revisions

Person

A decision maker.

Machine

An instruction follower.

Trade

A swap of property between two Persons.


Consensus

An agreement among People.

Coin

A Consensus regarding a mutually-acceptable medium for Trade.

Bitcoin is a Coin

Consensus Rules

The set of constraints that define a Coin.

Rule

A subset of Consensus Rules.

Validity

Conformance to Consensus Rules.

Validation

The process of determining Validity.


Unit

The atomic transferable value of a Coin.

The Satoshi is the Bitcoin Unit

Transfer

The change of control over certain Units.

Transaction

A Valid record of Transfer.

Block

A Valid set of Transactions with Timestamp and Proof.

Chain

The Branch with the most cumulative Proof.


Timestamp

A declaration of the time of Block production.

Median Time Past

An average of preceding Block Timestamps.

Proof

Statistical evidence of the cost of Work performed.

Work

The process of Block production.

Branch

A Valid sequence of Blocks.

Weak

A Branch with less cumulative Proof than another.

Strong

A Branch with more cumulative Proof than another.

Orphan

A misnomer for a Weak Branch.


Mine

A Tool that performs Work.

Node

A Tool that performs Validation.

Wallet

A Tool that creates Transactions.

Tool

A set of Machine instructions.


Miner

A Person operating a Mine.

User

A Person accepting Units in Trade.

Holder

A Person controlling certain Units.

Developer

A Person that implements Tools.


Hash Power

The set of all Miners.

Economy

The set of all Users.

Supply

The set of all issued Units.

Exchange

The Trade of Units for other property.

Implementation

A specific Tool.


Subsidy

The issuance of new Units to a Miner.

Inflation

The increase in Supply resulting from Subsidy.

Fee

An implicit Transfer to a Miner.

Reward

The sum of Subsidy and Fees for a Block.

Coinbase

A Transaction that Transfers a Reward.

Maturity

The Depth at which a Coinbase Output becomes Transferable.

Halving

A reduction in the Subsidy rate (by half).

Difficulty

The level of Proof required for Validity.

Adjustment

A change to Difficulty.

Cap

The limit to Supply over all time.

Price

A moving average of Exchange rates.

Capitalization

The product of Price and Supply.

Hash

Work performed to obtain a potentially Valid Block.

Hashrate

The rate of Hashing by a set of Miners.


Confirmation

Existence of a Transaction in a Block.

Depth

One more than the count of Blocks after a Confirmation.

Genesis

The first Block of all Branches.

Height

The count of preceding Blocks in a Branch.

Unconfirmed

A Transaction that does not exist in a Block.

Transaction Pool

The set of Unconfirmed Transactions.

Memory Pool

A misnomer for Transaction Pool subset.

Block Pool

The set of Weak Blocks.

Orphan Pool

A misnomer for Block Pool subset.


Script

A set of Operations that authorizes Transfer.

Operation

An atomic declaration of intent.

Contract

A Script that expresses Transfer conditions.

Endorsement

A Script that satisfies a Contract.

Point

A reference to an Output or Input.

Output

An explicit Transfer and a Contract.

Input

An Output Point and an Endorsement.

Previous Output

The Output to which an Input refers.

Locktime

An expression of earliest Transaction Validity.


Fork

A divergence in Consensus Rules.

Split

The Chain bifurcation resulting from a Fork.

Stall

The lack of Height increase over time.

Signal

A Miner indication of Fork preference.

Activation

The act of adding a Rule.

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