Hello,
this is my first posting and I am very new to bitcoin.
I want to understand the data flow of bitcoin.
(I already read various websites like wikipedia or wikis about bitcoin,
but there description is too deep for my current state of knowledge).
Assuming I can calculate y=SHA256(SHA256(x)) (very slow of course), where do I get y?
Is it the hash value I can get e.g. from
http://blockexplorer.com/q/latesthashOr is this something different?
Some time ago i saw e.g.
00000000000000050069B090DBB839D1551260C8665E49244624A49111680C26
0000000000000004B416C4C3093EB2BA8429F61CB841EFF1354CE27E9550BB14
0000000000000002E5EF07A20C9A2B25C518AB549C77092DF41D67ABCCB092E8
This value is changed after some time, then a new hash value is displayed.
How do I know when a new hash value is available? Just polling this URL periodically or are there better ways?
Now assume (which will never happen, I think), I find a new result (input message x),
what to do with this message? Do I need to just store it?
Or report it to somewhere to claim the result?
Taken the case, I want to test the way for my own miner,
are there perhaps test data?
I read somewhere there is a testnet, is this for such testing?
How does it work? Where can I get info about it?
Is there perhaps a small program (easy "cpu miner", not the one which support x different hardware miners)
which already has the basic things implemented, so I can just try it out and learn from it?
Do I need the "big block" or is this not needed for mining?
Best regards,
Martin
