The Testcoin implementation is focused almost exclusively in the hashed ledger feature. It does include some advanced feature like a distributed nodes and a consensus protocol via proof of work. which is just a simple function not a complex algorithm.
The goal of this project is to explain and to make clearer how is a blockchain structured at the very core. It's not built with the intention to replicate an advanced blockchain like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Remember that a Blockchain is an immutable, sequential chain of records called Blocks. They can contain transactions, files or any data you like, really. But the important thing is that they’re chained together using hashes.
Make sure that you have Python 3.6+ installed (along with pip) and you will also need Flask and Requests library.
$ pip3 install -r requirementsYou will also need an HTTP client like Postman or curl. But anything will do.
So what does a block look like?
Each block has an index, timestamp, transactions, proof (more on that later) and a hash of the previous transaction.
Here is an example of what a single Block looks like:
We'll create a Blockchain class whose constructor creates a list to store our Blockchain and another to store transactions. Here is how the Class will look like:
class BlockChain(object):
def __init__(self):
self.chain = []
self.current_transactions = []
@staticmethod
def hash(block):
pass
def new_block(self):
pass
@property
def last_block(self):
return self.chain[-1]This Blockchain class is responsible for managing the chain. It will store transactions and have helper functions.
The new_block method will create a new block and adds it on the chain and returns the last block in the chain.
The last_block method will return the last block in the chain.
Each block contains the hash and the hash of the previous block. This is what gives blockchains it's immutability - i.e. if anyone attack this, all subsequent blocks will be corrupt.
It's the core idea of blockchains. :)
We will need some way of adding transactions to the block. #MYCODE
The new_transaction returns index of the block which will be added to current_transactions and is next one to be mined..
In addition to creating the genesis block in our constructor, we will also need to flesh out methods for the new_block(), add_new_transaction() and hash().
#MYCODE
Once our block is initiated, we need to feed it with the genesis block (a block with no predecessors). We will also need to add "a proof of work" to our genesis block which is the result of mining.
At this point, we're nearly done representing our Blockchain.
So lets talk about how the new blocks are created, forged and mined. :)
A proof of work algorithm are how new Blocks are created or mined on the Blockchain.
The goal is to discover a number that solves a problem.
The number must be difficult and resources consuming to find but super quick and easy to verify.
This is the core idea of Proof of Work. :)
So lets work out some stupid-shit math problem that we are going to require to be solved in order for a block to be mined.
Lets say that hash of some integer x multiplied by another y must always end in 0. So, as an example, the hash(x * y) = 4b4f4b4f54...0.
#MYCODE
In the Bitcoin world, the Proof of Work algorithm is called Hashcash. And it's not any different from the example above. It's the very algorithm that miners race to solve in order to create a new block. The difficulty is of course determined by the number of the characters searched for in the string. In our example we simplified it by defining that the resultant hash must end in 0 to make the whole thing in our case quicker and less resource intensive but this is how it works really.
The miners are rewarded for finding a solution by receiving a coin. In a transaction. There are many opinions on effectiness of this but this is how it works. And it really is that simple and this way the network is able to easily verify their solution. :)
** Editor's note: 4b-4f-4b-4f-54 in the example above in hex translates to = "kokot" lol. :D
Let's implement a similar algorithm for our Blockchain. Our rule will be similar to the example above.
"Find a number p that when hashed with the previous block's solution a hash with 4 leading 0 is produced."
#MYCODE
To adjust the difficulty of the algorithm, we could modify the number of leading zeors. But strictly speaking 4 is sufficient enough. Also, you may find out that adding an extra 0 makes a mammoth difference to the time required to find a solution.
Now, our Blockchain class is pretty much complete, let's begin to interact with the ledger using the HTTP requests.
We'll use Python Flask framework. It's a micro-framework and it's really easy to use so for our example it'll do nicely.
We'll create three simple API endpoints:
- /transactions/new to create a new transaction block
- /mine to tell our service to mine a new block
- /chain to return the full Blockchain
Our server will form a single node in our Blockchain. So let's create some code. #MYCODE
This is what the request for the transaction will look like. It's what the user will send to the server.
{
"sender": "sender_address",
"recipient": "recipient_address",
"amount": 100
}Since we already have the method for adding transactions to a block, the rest is easy and pretty straight forward.
import hashlib
import json
from time import time
from uulib import uulib4
from flask import Flask, jsonify, request
...
@app.route('/transactions/new', methods=['POST'])
def new_transaction():
values = request.get_json()
required = ['sender', 'recipient', 'amount']
if not all(k in values for k in required):
return 'Missing values', 400
# create a new transaction
index = blockchain.new_transaction(values['sender'], values['recipient'], values['amount'])
response = {'message': f'Transaction will be added to the Block {index}.'}
return jsonify(response, 200)Our mining endpoint is where the mining happens and it's actually very easy as all it has to do are three things:
-
Calculate proof of work
-
Reward the miner by adding a transaction granting miner 1 coin
-
Forge the new Block by adding it to the chain
So, let's add on the mining function on our API:
import hashlib
import json
from time import time
from uulib import uulib4
from flask import Flask, jsonify, request
...
@app.route('/mine', methods=['GET'])
def mine():
# first we have to run the proof of work algorithm to calculate the new proof..
last_block = blockchain.last_block
last_proof = last_block['proof']
proof = blockchain.proof_of_work(last_proof)
# we must receive reward for finding the proof
blockchain.new_transaction(
sender=0,
recipient=node_identifier,
amount=1,
)
# forge the new block by adding it to the chain
previous_hash = blockchain.hash(last_block)
block = blockchain.new_block(proof, previous_hash)
response = {
'message': "Forged new block.",
'index': block['index'],
'transactions': block['transaction'],
'proof': block['proof'],
'previous_hash': block['previous_hash'],
}
return jsonify(response), 200At this point, we are done, and we can start interacting with out blockchain. :)
You can use a plain old cURL or Postman to interact with our Blockchain API ovet the network.
Fire up the server:
$ python3 blockchain.py
* Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)
So first off let's try mining a block by making a GET request to the "mine" http://localhost:5000/mine:
[
{
"index": 1,
"message": "Forged new block.",
"previous_hash": "7cd122100c9ded644768ccdec2d9433043968352e37d23526f63eefc65cd89e6",
"proof": 35293,
"transactions": [
{
"data": 1,
"recipient": "6a01861c7b3f483eab90727e621b2b96",
"sender": 0
}
]
},
200
]Motherfucker, very good! :)
Now lets create a new transaction by making a POST request to http://localhost:5000/transaction/new with a body containing our transaction structure. Let's make this call using the cURL:
$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
"sender": "d4ee26eee15148ee92c6cd394edd974e",
"recipient": "recipient-address",
"amount": 5
}' "http://localhost:5000/transactions/new"
I have restarted the server, mined two blocks, to give 3 in total. So let's inspect the full chain by requesting http://localhost:5000/chain:
{
"chain": [
{
"index": 1,
"previous_hash": 1,
"proof": 100,
"timestamp": 1506280650.770839,
"transactions": []
},
{
"index": 2,
"previous_hash": "c099bc...bfb7",
"proof": 35293,
"timestamp": 1506280664.717925,
"transactions": [
{
"amount": 1,
"recipient": "8bbcb347e0631231...e152b",
"sender": "0"
}
]
},
{
"index": 3,
"previous_hash": "eff91a...10f2",
"proof": 35089,
"timestamp": 1506280666.1086972,
"transactions": [
{
"amount": 1,
"recipient": "9e2e234e12e0631231...e152b",
"sender": "0"
}
]
}
],
"length": 3
}Hey there! New ideas are welcome: open/close issues, fork the repo and share your code with a Pull Request.
Clone this project to your computer:
$ git clone https://github.com/rahulraiwkar00/blockchain1