Building a Blockchain

In the previous chapter, we learned about what a blockchain is and how it functions. In addition, we learned how to set up a project to build our blockchain. In this chapter, you will begin building the blockchain and all of its functionalities. First, let's create the blockchain data structure using a constructor function, and then we'll add a lot of different types of functionalities to our blockchain by adding different methods to its prototype.

We're then going to give the blockchain certain functionalities, such as creating new blocks and transactions, as well as the ability to hash data and blocks. We'll also give it the ability to do a proof of work and many other functionalities that a blockchain should be able to do. We'll then make sure that the blockchain is fully functional by testing the added functionalities as we progress.

By building each piece of the blockchain step by step, you will gain a better understanding of how blockchain actually works under the hood. You may also realize that once you dive into it, creating a blockchain is not as complicated as it sounds.

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics: 

• Learning how to create a Blockchain constructor function
• Building and testing various methods such as createNewBlock, createNewTransaction, and hashBlock to add functionalities to the blockchain
• Understanding what proof of work is and learning how to implement it for our blockchain
• Creating and testing a genesis block

 So, let's get started!