The latest articles on DEV Community by Ernesto (@ruttosa). https://dev.to/ruttosa https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1312485%2F5dd7767a-d09f-43a6-aa3e-0e2c996db80d.png https://dev.to/ruttosa en Ernesto Thu, 13 Jun 2024 19:45:50 +0000 https://dev.to/ruttosa/blockchain-in-256-chars-d9m https://dev.to/ruttosa/blockchain-in-256-chars-d9m <p><em>This is a submission for DEV Computer Science Challenge v24.06.12: One Byte Explainer.</em></p> <h2> Explainer </h2> <p><strong>Blockchain</strong> is like a giant ledger that register transactions, but secured with cryptography and grouped into linked blocks, validated by a consensus mechanism executed by the network participants that ensures transactions veracity before being registered</p> <h2> Additional Context </h2> <p>A <strong>transaction</strong> is any action taken on a blockchain network, and in the context of a giant ledger example represents the register of an Income or an Outcome, using criptographies techniques to hide the data included on it.</p> <p><strong>Blockchain</strong> literally means a "chain of blocks", because of every time a block is validated by the validators nodes (a.k.a. Miners), this is added to the end of the chain, linked to the last block.</p> <p><strong>Validators</strong> nodes are in charge of mantain the integrity of the blockchain, using a consensus mechanism to validate the transactions added to the network before registered them forever in a new block, in exchange for a reward.</p> <p>A <strong>Consensus Mechanism</strong> is the way how validators nodes agree each other that a transaction is valid or not. Just to know, there are a few methods to achieve this but the main ones are called Proof of Work (PoW, used by Bitcoin) and Proof of Stake (PoS, used by Ethereum), however, the details about how them work is not for this post.</p> <h2> <img src="https://media.dev.to/cdn-cgi/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fc7aajbhl52bve5mc062w.jpg" alt="Blockchain transaction flow" width="800" height="800"> </h2> <p><em>Infographic: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/infographic-blockchain-concept_2463655.htm#query=blockchain%20diagram&amp;position=2&amp;from_view=keyword&amp;track=ais_user&amp;uuid=8153d8b8-1ee5-418b-8b20-b23c7cedae20">Image by freepik</a></em><br> <em>Cover: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-ai-image/3d-rendering-blockchain-technology_196469768.htm#query=blockchain&amp;position=0&amp;from_view=keyword&amp;track=sph&amp;uuid=49d63793-06d9-4fbf-ae3b-031967d88a4d">Image by freepik</a></em></p> devchallenge cschallenge computerscience beginners