Block
A block is a blockchain record containing metadata and a cryptographic commitment to transactions or other ledger entries, linked to prior blocks.
Real-World Cryptography
A block is a blockchain record containing metadata and a cryptographic commitment to a set of transactions or other ledger entries.
- How it is used
- Organizes transactions into proposed ledger units and supports ordering, consensus, certification, and eventual finalization.
- How deep it goes
- Explains contents, hash linking, proof-of-work, forks, voting, certification, and commit rules, but defers implementation-level details.
- Examples
- Uses Bitcoin mining, a tampered interactive toy blockchain, competing Bitcoin branches, and DiemBFT’s certified block chain.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate/understand how blocks link ledger history, compete during forks, gain certification, and become final.
The Joy of JavaScript
A block is a fixed unit of data in a blockchain that groups transactions and metadata for chaining to prior blocks.
- How it is used
- Models blockchain records as immutable containers for transactions, metadata, hashes, and chain linkage.
- How deep it goes
- Defines fields, genesis detection, hashing, validation, tamper detection, and custom serialization, while keeping cryptography pedagogical.
- Examples
- Uses payment aggregation, a JavaScript Block class, reusable hash and validation mixins, and symbol-based JSON serialization.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch as a small JavaScript blockchain model with transaction storage, hash linkage, validation, and serialization.
Related concepts
- database transactionhas part · A database transaction is a logical unit of database operations whose changes are committed together or rolled back as a whole.
- blockchainhas part · A blockchain is a distributed ledger that records data in an ordered sequence of cryptographically linked, tamper-evident blocks.
- digital signatureuses · A digital signature is cryptographic data generated with a private key and verified with corresponding public information to authenticate data or its signer and detect alteration.
- minerproduced by · A miner is a participant in a proof-of-work cryptocurrency network that searches for valid computational proofs and may propose blocks.
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