Topic: Common terminology when discussing Blockchain (Read 138 times)

Thanks for the post, will probably be helpful for the newbies.

It's always frustrating to see threads like "what is a hard fork?" People can't seem to google nowadays.

I am add some more terminology with your Quote:-

1. Address - A bitcoin address is essentially the same thing as your home address. It’s the location from which you would receive, send or hold your currency.

2. Encryption - In the IT world, encrypting information consists of hiding it in such a way that it can only be interpreted if the user has a password or code.

3. Cryptocoin or cryptocurrency - Just like cash money, cryptocurrency is a means of exchange, but in this case a digital one.

4. Bitcoin - Bitcoin is just a software algorithm. There’s a lot of mathematics behind it, but it’s basically software.

5. Ethereum - It operates on its own blockchain and was originally conceived as an improved version, to surpass the programming limits of Bitcoin.

6. Miners and Digital mining - Mining is the process through which new bitcoins are launched onto the market.

7. Nodes - The nodes are the computers that form part of the blockchain network. They are charged with storing and distributing, in real time, the updated copies of the transactions that are carried out. All the miners are nodes, but not all the nodes are miners.

8. Token - In the blockchain world, this word means the same, but in the virtual sense: tokens are units of value that can be acquired through blockchain and are also used to acquire goods and service.

9. Hash - The miners must find a password or digital fingerprint that identifies them. This password is called a hash. It is unique, unrepeatable and cannot be modified. Besides, each time a new hash is discovered, it is distributed to the rest of the nodes in the network, so that they are always synchronized.

10. ICOs
ICOs, or Initial Coin Offerings, is a form of company financing. The peculiarity is that the companies offer tokens instead of shares and the shareholders pay with digital coins, through blockchain.

11. Forks -
The strength of the public blockchain networks lies in their 100% democratic nature. Everything is decentralized and all parties have the same information, no one individual is above another.

12. P2P - P2P is another way of saying Peer-to-Peer. Every interaction on the blockchain can be fulfilled P2P, or without a centralized variable like a store, bank or notary.

13. Public Key - Public key is a cryptographic key that can be utilized by any party to encrypt a message and reseive or send message.

14. Signature - A signature is the mathematical operation that lets someone prove their sole ownership over their wallet, coin, data or on.

15. Smart Contract - A two way smart contract can be used to define certain computational benchmarks or barriers that have to be met in turn for money or data to be deposited or even be used to verify things such as land rights.

 ASIC mining is a crafty method of mining various coins at a much faster rate than any normal desktop or laptop might allow. Essentially what an ASIC, ... to the Bitcoin network. A node supports the network through validation and relaying of transactions while receiving a copy of the full blockchain itself.
A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data.

[Common terminology when discussing Blockchain] Updated - 2/2/2018
(This post will be updated continuously based on everyone's contributions.) Note: This is the unofficial definition. People learn more about the material to understand more)

Blockchain
Chain-of-block technology, transactions are grouped into 1 block, blocks are joined to the chain following the block mechanism after saving the key hash of the previous block.

Consensus
Consensus algorithm, which is an algorithm that validates a block.

On-chain
Used to refer to tasks performed on Blockchain

Off-chain
Used to indicate tasks not performed on Blockchain

Cross-chain
Techniques for transferring tokens through different blockchain

Mainchain
Used to refer to the main blockchain, in a multiple blockchain group connected to each other.

Sidechain
Used to refer to the blockchain with a smaller ecosystem connected to the mainchain

Proof Of Work (PoW)
The consensus algorithm among the nodes in Blockchain, the consensus based on the effort (hash, hashing power) of the nodes.

Proof of Stake (PoS)
Synchronization algorithms between nodes in Blockchain, stencil-based relational representations of nodes.

Miner
Excavators, used to refer to computers participating in Blockchain, pack and confirm (Block).

Validator
Often, only the nodes involved create, confirm Block in Blockchain. Quite like Miner. This concept is used in Blockchain using the Proof Of Stake consensus algorithm.

Fork
Only splitting a blockchain into two or more branches, when two or more blocks are in the same block. Fork can be created accidentally, occurring when more than one miner digs a new block at the same time (will only exist temporarily), or deliberately, when the community breaks into two or more groups running the version Software incompatible.

Hard fork
It occurs when the consensus rule is loosened (if the old rule is a subset of the new rule), if all the updates update to the new software, then there will be no split, if there is one. The miner still running the old software will split.

Soft fork
Occurs when the consensus rule is tightened (the new rule is the subset of the old rule), if most of the miner update the new software, there will be no split, if only minor update will split.

Nothing at stake
Only happens when there is hard-fork. Because in PoS you do not have much energy to create a block, so you can create blocks at two chains at the same time.

Long range attack
This is because it does not take much effort to create a block so you can create your own chain, and your chain is longer than the main chain.