blockachain

This is a project to try out developing my own blockchain. I am following the guidance of the book Blockchain by Fertig & Schütz (Rheinwerk Computing, 2024) and filling in the implementation details by myself.

to run

Run the automated tests with Maven:

mvn clean test

Note that you will have to create the directory "e:\chains\42" or modify the path in Persistence.java and the network ID in Blockchain.java in order for the persistence tests to run.

The test in MinerTest.java creates a blockchain and a hundred pending transactions, then proceeds to mine new blocks using a proof-of-work consensus model (like Bitcoin's). Its "difficulty" setting is hard-coded in Blockchain.java and is tuned to take 2-3 seconds to mine a block on my computer. You may need to adjust it for your own computer; it doesn't automatically adjust. A larger number (less negative) will make it easier to mine new blocks; a smaller number (greater negative) will make it harder.