Cryptrol, do you know in which source files to find the Protoshares personal chains?

I forked/copied the datacoin source on github.  Perhaps, if you are interested, you could do the same.  We need a sandbox in which to play with the source.  If we implement something interesting we could send a pull request to the dev, and maybe help the project a little.

For now I am just reading the code, trying to see where it differs from the bitcoin client.

Yippee!!!  Datacoin OP moved to Announcements (Altcoins).  I was getting lost in all the clutter.

I think we need to start working on alternative versions of the client with things like PoS and personal blockchains.  Perhaps cryptrol/datacoin or maxsolnc/datacoin on github?  The bitcoin devs do the same.  We can then see what dev thinks of them when we make pull requests.  My rusty C++ is slowly reviving - this coin is one of the most innovative, and the programming is very interesting.

Bitcoin took more than 2 years to take off.  Datacoin will probably be similar while all the extra features are added to it.  

sfireman: you are right - that was a slip on my part.





cryptrol: thanks for the info on Protoshares.

With a premine (its a mystery!) and many hardforks?

The developer is speaking about adding personal (node) blockchains in the next few months.  Then the main blockchain will only be for a kind of blockchain index (blkindex.dat?).  This is really interesting.  Bitcoin already has blk0001.dat, blk0002.dat blk0003.dat etc and the developer appears to be intent on modifying this system for Datacoin.  Nodes will choose which blk.dat files they wish to store.  There will be no main blockchain bloat, and it will only be metadata that will cost 0.05DTC per 128k.  Actual data stored in the node blockchains will be far cheaper.

I really like this developer.  He talks little but does much, comments it well and has great ideas.  He also seems to be very aware about issues with general data storage, like security.  He is setting up a system, not just a coin.

This is a very serious coin.  Ranked, I think, on the same level as Namecoin.  We should send the developer pull requests, and see what he makes of them.

Where is the coin?

Datacoin, Gridcoin and Curecoin.  They all actually try to do something.

Ooh Konstantin.  I cannot wait.  I think thousands of programmers would be interested in that.  But do it on the latest client.  And somebody should do libcoin as well.

Fully and desperately supported.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=374912.0

Or

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=f976bd25b056584eaab72a0f973d3a5f&board=9.30

Ah.  So what was meant was "relay OP_RETURN <data> in TxOut".  In other words, the clients can treat it as kosher and pass it on.

Thanks again.  Certainly I need to read more.

So sending a message will end up as

scriptPubKey:  OP_RETURN <data> OP_DROP OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
scriptsig: <sig> <pubKey>

?  

Now there will be no problem in identifying the recipient.

Freicoin automatically recycles lost coins through demurrage, so the number of coins in circulation remains at 100 million forever. 

But I don't see the Bitcoin gold bugs agreeing to something like that.  They love the early adopter profits too much.

Thanks Mike for answering.

Core Update 5 allows messaging:

Relay OP_RETURN <data> TxOut

OP_RETURN and <data> I understand, but what is Relay?  Some sort of instruction to the node receiving the message?  Will this script be bounced from node to node (relayed?).  And where is the destination address?

The same applies to TxOut.  Is it an instruction to put the data in the TxOut field of the script?

Where is the scriptsig/scriptPubKey of this new way of sending messages?

The following old (non-standard) way of sending a message makes much more sense to me:

scriptPubKey: <message> OP_DROP <pubKey> OP_CHECKSIG
scriptsig: <sig>

Here I can see where the message is going and how the stack will work.

This is a very informative document:


Programming Bitcoin Transaction Scripts
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D_gi_7Sf9sOyAHG25cMpOO4xtLq3iJUtjRwcZXFLv1E/edit

For a very good background on how Bitcoin works, read this doc:


How the Bitcoin Protocol actually works
http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-actually-works/


Read both documents.  You won't be disappointed.  Be aware that Bitcoin scripts are written in Forth, and you can download gforth and play with it.  (In Ubuntu "apt-get install gforth").  I am still looking for a program where I can write, run and debug Bitcoin scripts.


I actually want to share scripts on this thread so that we can learn from each other. I haven't found a decent tutorial on general scripting, so these threads will have to do. I am particularly interested in scripts that transfer and validate data.  Mike Hearn is the expert here.   Maybe we can attract him to this thread.  The Bitcoin source code dealing with Scripts is script.cpp and script.h.

I really like your introduction.  It is essential that somebody produces some tutorials on general transaction writing.

Thank you!

Thank you pr0d1gy for adding Freicoin!

@theprofileth:  You make some very valid points.  Datacoin aims to be a form of data infrastructure, so it must be compared to current services that are similar.  I expect Datacoin to be under continuous development, with a very large body of developers.  Many of these people will have to be drawn from the VPN and cloud storage sector, and they would be familiar with what they need to make a coin that would be useful for them.

Everbody wants something that is a combination of Napster and Bitcoin.  Datacoin is the first step, but it will be a long road before we get there.  Pruning and updating of old files are just the first issue that comes to mind.  Atomic downloads for payments to specific addresses is another.  A lot of great work has been done (including on the blockexplorer) but we need some sort of roadmap to see where we are going.

I don't think the blockchain is the best place to store files. The wallets themselves would be better, with the blockchain used for indexing and collating.  Grondilu made such a suggestion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1545.0).  By increasing the precision of the coin to many hundreds of digits, data could be stored in the least significant bits of the balances in the wallets.  A message or data file would be represented by a (small) DTC amount and there would be a natural cost associated with it.  

There is a lot of goodwill associated with this coin but if it is not useful to the actual users it will quickly be forked.  We must listen very carefully to critics because these could be the people who would help Datacoin the most.  I rank Datacoin as equal in importance to Bitcoin and Namecoin, and they are both highly reactive to the communities they serve.

Bump!

Bump!

Thank you pr0d1gy!!!