You have probably seen Merkle trees mentioned in blockchain or distributed systems contexts. But most explanations are frustratingly generic: they never really show how Merkle trees work or why they are needed in the first place.
I decided to dig a bit deeper and as a result I built a simple implementation of a Merkle tree in Rust with some examples (including the Simple Payment Verification as it is used in blockchains) and wrote a blog post that explains the algorithms and data structure with enough rigor and depth to actually be useful for better understanding: inclusion proofs, tree construction, verification.
The post also briefly covers basic Bitcoin concepts and how Simplified Payment Verification works so that no prior blockchain knowledge needed.
Blog post: Merkle Trees and Blockchain Verification
Implementation: github.com/amoilanen/merkle-tree
The library is intentionally not production ready: I discuss the limitations and simplifications in the post. For production I would recommend using rs-merkle. The main purpose of my implementation is educational so that implementations like rs-merkle can be approached and understood easier.
Would appreciate feedback on the Rust code or the explanations. Does it look too heavy on the details, is everything sufficiently clearly explained? Thanks
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