Know How To Create A Blockchain Application In Python
Before we get ahead with how to build a blockchain in Python, let’s understand its history first. In 2008, an author under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper that described a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash. The uniqueness of this electronic cash system is that the transactions will no longer rely on third-party verifications to ensure a secure transaction. Instead, each transaction will get timestamped and hashed into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work.
You may question now what is hashing and proof-of-work. This article is all about understanding these concepts and revealing how they establish the groundwork for an encrypted electronic cash system or cryptocurrency. This specific form of electronic currency described in Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper is widely known as Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency. But, how to build an app using blockchain technology solutions in Python?
What is a Blockchain?
In simple words, Blockchain is defined as the system that Bitcoin relies upon, as a growing list of records that are linked to one another. Bitcoin was the first successful application of this system, and after it gained popularity, other cryptocurrencies were founded on the same principles. This system is not restricted to storing financial information, rather the type of data stored is inconsequential to and independent of the blockchain technology solutions network.
Fundamentally, the data stored in a blockchain must ensure the following characteristics:
· Immutable
· Unhackable
· Persistent
· Distributed
These qualities are crucial to maintaining the integrity of the blockchain and providing network security within the radar where transactions happen. To explain further the simplicity and elegance of this system, let’s walk through the process of creating your own blockchain in Python. To keep it simple, we will assume that the data stored in the block is transactional data, as cryptocurrencies are the dominant use case for blockchain.
How to build a Blockchain in Python with a pre-built runtime environment?
Creating the first block
Many developers use the standard JSON format to store data in each block, which looks like this:
{
“author”: “author_name”,
“timestamp”: “transaction_time”,
“data”: “transaction_data”
}
To implement this format in Python, we first create a block class with the above-mentioned attributes. One of the characteristics of this data in each block is immutable, which can get implemented using a cryptographic hash function. It is a one-way algorithm that takes arbitrarily-sized input data and maps it with the values of fixed sizes (hash value). To understand why the hash function is useful for us, let’s consider an example:
· Emma and Eric are racing to solve a complex math problem
· Emma wants to prove to Eric that she correctly solves the answer without sharing the solution, so she runs her answer through a hash function and shares the result hash value with Eric.
· Eric finally solves the problem, but did Emma solve it right?
· Emma now shares her answer with Eric so he can put it through the hash function and check to see if the resulting hash value matches the one Emma initially provided him.
· The hash value matches, which means Emma solved the problem correctly before Eric.
Hashing the blocks ensures the security of each one individually making it difficult to tamper with the data within the blocks. However, now we need to chain every single block together.
Coding the Blockchain
To ensure the immutability of the entire blockchain, we need to use a clever approach of including a hash of the previous block within the current block. The awareness of all data within each block establishes a mechanism to protect the entire chain’s integrity. It is why we included the previous_hash variable in the block class. We also need a way to initialize the blockchain, so define the create_genesis_blockmethod. It creates an initial block with an index of 0 and a previous hash of 0. then after, we add it to the list chain that keeps track of each block.
A proof-of-work system for Blockchain
The hashing described so far is only half the job done. It is feasible for the developers to modify a previous block in the chain and then recompute each block to create another valid chain. The proof-of-work system makes it progressively difficult to perform the work required to create a new block. It means that someone who modifies a previous block will have to redo the work of one block and all the blocks followed by each other.
The proof-of-work system requires scanning for a value that starts with a certain number of zero bits when hashed. This value is known as a nonce value, and the number of leading zero bits is known as the “difficulty.”
Summary
In this blog, we have learned how to use Python to create an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work. If you are looking for an expert Blockchain development company that can offer you state-of-the-art Crypto solutions, we are here to help.
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