Merge branch 'develop'

appdx-pycoin.asciidoc

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 ((("pycoin library")))The Python library http://github.com/richardkiss/pycoin[+pycoin+], originally written and maintained by Richard Kiss, is a Python-based library that supports manipulation of bitcoin keys and transactions, even supporting the scripting language enough to properly deal with nonstandard transactions.
 
-The pycoin library supports both Python 2 (2.7.x) and Python 3 (after 3.3) and comes with some handy command-line utilities, +ku+ and +tx+.
+The pycoin library supports both Python 2 (2.7.x) and Python 3 (3.3 and later) and comes with some handy command-line utilities, +ku+ and +tx+.
 
 === Key Utility (KU)
 

ch01.asciidoc

@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ Bitcoin transactions are irreversible. Most electronic payment networks such as
 [role="pagebreak-before"]
 Here are some methods for getting bitcoin as a new user:
 
-* Find a friend who has bitcoin and buy some from him or her directly. Many bitcoin users start this way. This method is the least complicated. One way to meet people with bitcoin is to attend a local bitcoin meetup listed at https://meetup.com[Meetup.com].
+* Find a friend who has bitcoin and buy some from him or her directly. Many bitcoin users start this way. This method is the least complicated. One way to meet people with bitcoin is to attend a local bitcoin meetup listed at https://bitcoin.meetup.com[Meetup.com].
 * Use a classified service such as pass:[<a class="orm:hideurl" href="https://localbitcoins.com/">localbitcoins.com</a>] to find a seller in your area to buy bitcoin for cash in an in-person transaction.
 * Earn bitcoin by selling a product or service for bitcoin. If you are a programmer, sell your programming skills. If you're a hairdresser, cut hair for bitcoin.
 * ((("Coin ATM Radar")))((("ATMs, locating")))Use a bitcoin ATM in your city.  A bitcoin ATM is a machine that accepts cash and sends bitcoin to your smartphone bitcoin wallet. Find a bitcoin ATM close to you using an online map from http://coinatmradar.com[Coin ATM Radar].

ch03.asciidoc

@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ $ which bitcoin-cli
 
 ((("Bitcoin Core", "running core nodes", id="BCnode03")))((("bitcoin nodes", "running core nodes", id="BNcore03")))Bitcoin's peer-to-peer network is composed of network "nodes," run mostly by volunteers and some of the businesses that build bitcoin applications. Those running bitcoin nodes have a direct and authoritative view of the bitcoin blockchain, with a local copy of all the transactions, independently validated by their own system. By running a node, you don't have to rely on any third party to validate a transaction. Moreover, by running a bitcoin node you contribute to the bitcoin network by making it more robust.
 
-Running a node, however, requires a permanently connected system with enough resources to process all bitcoin transactions. Depending on whether you choose to index all transactions and keep a full copy of the blockchain, you may also need a lot of disk space and RAM. As of late 2016, a full-index node needs 2 GB of RAM and 125 GB of disk space so that it has room to grow. Bitcoin nodes also transmit and receive bitcoin transactions and blocks, consuming internet bandwidth. If your internet connection is limited, has a low data cap, or is metered (charged by the gigabit), you should probably not run a bitcoin node on it, or run it in a way that constrains its bandwidth (see <<constrained_resources>>).
+Running a node, however, requires a permanently connected system with enough resources to process all bitcoin transactions. Depending on whether you choose to index all transactions and keep a full copy of the blockchain, you may also need a lot of disk space and RAM. As of early 2018, a full-index node needs 2 GB of RAM and a minimum of 160 GB of disk space (see https://blockchain.info/charts/blocks-size). Bitcoin nodes also transmit and receive bitcoin transactions and blocks, consuming internet bandwidth. If your internet connection is limited, has a low data cap, or is metered (charged by the gigabit), you should probably not run a bitcoin node on it, or run it in a way that constrains its bandwidth (see <<constrained_resources>>).
 
 [TIP]
 ====

ch06.asciidoc

@@ -66,13 +66,13 @@ You may also notice a lot of strange and indecipherable fields and hexadecimal s
 
 ((("balances")))When we say that a user's wallet has "received" bitcoin, what we mean is that the wallet has detected a UTXO that can be spent with one of the keys controlled by that wallet. Thus, a user's bitcoin "balance" is the sum of all UTXO that user's wallet can spend and which may be scattered among hundreds of transactions and hundreds of blocks. The concept of a balance is created by the wallet application. The wallet calculates the user's balance by scanning the blockchain and aggregating the value of any UTXO the wallet can spend with the keys it controls. Most wallets maintain a database or use a database service to store a quick reference set of all the UTXO they can spend with the keys they control.
 
-((("satoshis")))A transaction output can have an arbitrary (integer) value denominated as a multiple of satoshis.  Just like dollars can be divided down to two decimal places as cents, bitcoin can be divided down to eight decimal places as satoshis. Although an output can have any arbitrary value, once created it is indivisible. This is an important characteristic of outputs that needs to be emphasized: outputs are _discrete_ and _indivisible_ units of value, denominated in integer satoshis. An unspent output can only be consumed in its entirety by a transaction.
+((("satoshis")))A transaction output can have an arbitrary (integer) value denominated as a multiple of satoshis.  Just as dollars can be divided down to two decimal places as cents, bitcoin can be divided down to eight decimal places as satoshis. Although an output can have any arbitrary value, once created it is indivisible. This is an important characteristic of outputs that needs to be emphasized: outputs are _discrete_ and _indivisible_ units of value, denominated in integer satoshis. An unspent output can only be consumed in its entirety by a transaction.
 
-((("change, making")))If an UTXO is larger than the desired value of a transaction, it must still be consumed in its entirety and change must be generated in the transaction. In other words, if you have a UTXO worth 20 bitcoin and want to pay only 1 bitcoin, your transaction must consume the entire 20-bitcoin UTXO and produce two outputs: one paying 1 bitcoin to your desired recipient and another paying 19 bitcoin in change back to your wallet. As a result of the indivisible nature of transaction outputs, most bitcoin transactions will have to generate change.
+((("change, making")))If a UTXO is larger than the desired value of a transaction, it must still be consumed in its entirety and change must be generated in the transaction. In other words, if you have a UTXO worth 20 bitcoin and want to pay only 1 bitcoin, your transaction must consume the entire 20-bitcoin UTXO and produce two outputs: one paying 1 bitcoin to your desired recipient and another paying 19 bitcoin in change back to your wallet. As a result of the indivisible nature of transaction outputs, most bitcoin transactions will have to generate change.
 
 Imagine a shopper buying a $1.50 beverage, reaching into her wallet and trying to find a combination of coins and bank notes to cover the $1.50 cost. The shopper will choose exact change if available e.g. a dollar bill and two quarters (a quarter is $0.25), or a combination of smaller denominations (six quarters), or if necessary, a larger unit such as a $5 note. If she hands too much money, say $5, to the shop owner, she will expect $3.50 change, which she will return to her wallet and have available for future transactions.
 
-Similarly, a bitcoin transaction must be created from a user's UTXO in whatever denominations that user has available. Users cannot cut an UTXO in half any more than they can cut a dollar bill in half and use it as currency. The user's wallet application will typically select from the user's available UTXO to compose an amount greater than or equal to the desired transaction amount.
+Similarly, a bitcoin transaction must be created from a user's UTXO in whatever denominations that user has available. Users cannot cut a UTXO in half any more than they can cut a dollar bill in half and use it as currency. The user's wallet application will typically select from the user's available UTXO to compose an amount greater than or equal to the desired transaction amount.
 
 As with real life, the bitcoin application can use several strategies to satisfy the purchase amount: combining several smaller units, finding exact change, or using a single unit larger than the transaction value and making change. All of this complex assembly of spendable UTXO is done by the user's wallet automatically and is invisible to users. It is only relevant if you are programmatically constructing raw transactions from UTXO.
 
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ Here are some hints:
 
 To build a transaction, a wallet selects from the UTXO it controls, UTXO with enough value to make the requested payment. Sometimes one UTXO is enough, other times more than one is needed. For each UTXO that will be consumed to make this payment, the wallet creates one input pointing to the UTXO and unlocks it with an unlocking script.
 
-Let's look at the components of an input in greater detail. The first part of an input is a pointer to an UTXO by reference to the transaction hash and an output index, which identifies the specific UTXO in that transaction. The second part is an unlocking script, which the wallet constructs in order to satisfy the spending conditions set in the UTXO. Most often, the unlocking script is a digital signature and public key proving ownership of the bitcoin. However, not all unlocking scripts contain signatures. The third part is a sequence number, which will be discussed later.
+Let's look at the components of an input in greater detail. The first part of an input is a pointer to a UTXO by reference to the transaction hash and an output index, which identifies the specific UTXO in that transaction. The second part is an unlocking script, which the wallet constructs in order to satisfy the spending conditions set in the UTXO. Most often, the unlocking script is a digital signature and public key proving ownership of the bitcoin. However, not all unlocking scripts contain signatures. The third part is a sequence number, which will be discussed later.
 
 Consider our example in <<transactions_behind_the_scenes>>. The transaction inputs are an array (list) called +vin+:
 
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ Transaction fees are calculated based on the size of the transaction in kilobyte
 
 Over time, the way transaction fees are calculated and the effect they have on transaction prioritization has evolved. At first, transaction fees were fixed and constant across the network. Gradually, the fee structure relaxed and may be influenced by market forces, based on network capacity and transaction volume. Since at least the beginning of 2016, capacity limits in bitcoin have created competition between transactions, resulting in higher fees and effectively making free transactions a thing of the past. Zero fee or very low fee transactions rarely get mined and sometimes will not even be propagated across the network.
 
-((("fees", "fee relay policies")))((("minrelaytxfee option")))In Bitcoin Core, fee relay policies are set by the +minrelaytxfee+ option. The current default +minrelaytxfee+ is 0.00001 bitcoin or a hundredth of a millibitcoin per kilobyte. Therefore, by default, transactions with a fee less than 0.0001 bitcoin are treated as free and are only relayed if there is space in the mempool; otherwise, they are dropped. Bitcoin nodes can override the default fee relay policy by adjusting the value of +minrelaytxfee+.
+((("fees", "fee relay policies")))((("minrelaytxfee option")))In Bitcoin Core, fee relay policies are set by the +minrelaytxfee+ option. The current default +minrelaytxfee+ is 0.00001 bitcoin or a hundredth of a millibitcoin per kilobyte. Therefore, by default, transactions with a fee less than 0.00001 bitcoin are treated as free and are only relayed if there is space in the mempool; otherwise, they are dropped. Bitcoin nodes can override the default fee relay policy by adjusting the value of +minrelaytxfee+.
 
 ((("dynamic fees")))((("fees", "dynamic fees")))Any bitcoin service that creates transactions, including wallets, exchanges, retail applications, etc., _must_ implement dynamic fees. Dynamic fees can be implemented through a third-party fee estimation service or with a built-in fee estimation algorithm. If you're unsure, begin with a third-party service and as you gain experience design and implement your own algorithm if you wish to remove the third-party dependency.
 
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ Try validating the preceding script yourself using pencil and paper. When the sc
 
 ((("security", "locking and unlocking scripts")))In the original bitcoin client, the unlocking and locking scripts were concatenated and executed in sequence. For security reasons, this was changed in 2010, because of a vulnerability that allowed a malformed unlocking script to push data onto the stack and corrupt the locking script. In the current implementation, the scripts are executed separately with the stack transferred between the two executions, as described next.
 
-First, the unlocking script is executed, using the stack execution engine. If the unlocking script is executed without errors (e.g., it has no "dangling" operators left over), the main stack (not the alternate stack) is copied and the locking script is executed. If the result of executing the locking script with the stack data copied from the unlocking script is "TRUE," the unlocking script has succeeded in resolving the conditions imposed by the locking script and, therefore, the input is a valid authorization to spend the UTXO. If any result other than "TRUE" remains after execution of the combined script, the input is invalid because it has failed to satisfy the spending conditions placed on the UTXO.
+First, the unlocking script is executed, using the stack execution engine. If the unlocking script is executed without errors (e.g., it has no "dangling" operators left over), the main stack is copied and the locking script is executed. If the result of executing the locking script with the stack data copied from the unlocking script is "TRUE," the unlocking script has succeeded in resolving the conditions imposed by the locking script and, therefore, the input is a valid authorization to spend the UTXO. If any result other than "TRUE" remains after execution of the combined script, the input is invalid because it has failed to satisfy the spending conditions placed on the UTXO.
 
 
 [[p2pkh]]
@@ -677,7 +677,7 @@ Note that in verifying the signature, the private key is neither known nor revea
 
 [TIP]
 ====
-The math of ECDSA is complex and difficult to understand. There are a number of great guides online that might help. Search for "ECDSA explained" or try this one: http://bit.ly/2r0HhGB[].
+ECDSA is necessarily a fairly complicated piece of math; a full explanation is beyond the scope of this book. A number of great guides online take you through it step by step: search for "ECDSA explained" or try this one: http://bit.ly/2r0HhGB[].
 ====
 
 ==== The Importance of Randomness in Signatures