blockchain-golang

Go Blockchain Implementation

This repository contains a simple yet functional implementation of a blockchain in Go. The project demonstrates the fundamental concepts of blockchain technology, including block creation, mining, and maintaining a chain of blocks with integrity.

Features

• Block Creation: Ability to create new blocks with custom data.
• Blockchain Integrity: Ensures the integrity of the blockchain by linking blocks with their previous hash.
• Mining Simulation: Implements a basic proof-of-work algorithm for mining new blocks.
• JSON Serialization: Supports loading and saving the blockchain to and from a JSON file.

Getting Started

These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes.

Prerequisites

What you need to install the software:

• Go (version 1.15 or later recommended)
• Git (for cloning the repository)

Installing

A step-by-step series of examples that tell you how to get a development environment running:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/araujo88/blockchain-golang.git
   cd blockchain-golang
   

2. Run the program:

   go run .
   

   This will execute the main program, which might include mining some blocks and displaying the blockchain.

3. Run tests:

   go test
   

   This will run the unit tests defined in the project, ensuring the core functionalities work as expected.

Usage

Describe how to use the blockchain:

• Creating a new blockchain:

  blockchain := NewBlockchain(difficulty)
  

• Adding a block to the blockchain:

  blockchain.AddBlock("Your block data here")
  

• Saving the blockchain to a file:

  err := blockchain.SaveToFile("blockchain.json")
  

• Loading the blockchain from a file:

  blockchain, err := LoadBlockchainFromFile("blockchain.json")
  

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.

License

This project is licensed under the GPL License - see the LICENSE file for details.