以太坊是什么东西？以太坊如何工作？

以太坊是什么?

What's Ether?

以太坊是一个全新开放的区块链平台，它允许任何人在平台中建立和使用通过区块链技术运行的去中心化应用。就像比特币一样，以太坊不受任何人控制，也不归任何人所有——它是一个开放源代码项目，由全球范围内的很多人共同创建。和比特币协议有所不同的是，以太坊的设计十分灵活，极具适应性。在以太坊平台上创立新的应用十分简便，随着Homestead的发布，任何人都可以安全地使用该平台上的应用。

Ether is a completely new and open block chain platform that allows anyone to build and use decentralized applications that run through block chain technology on the platform. Like Bitcoin, it is not controlled by anyone or owned by anyone -- it is an open source project created by many people around the world. Unlike the Bitcoin agreement, the design of Ether is flexible and adaptable. It is easy to create new applications on the Ether platform and, with Homestead's release, anyone can use them safely.

下一代区块链

Next Generation Block Chain

区块链技术是比特币的底层技术，这一技术第一次被描述是在中本聪2008年发表的白皮书“比特币：点对点电子现金系统”中。区块链技术更多的一般性用途在原书中已经有所讨论，但直到几年后，区块链技术才作为通用术语出现。一个区块链是一个分布式计算架构，里面的每个网络节点执行并记录相同的交易，交易被分组为区块。一次只能增加一个区块，每个区块有一个数学证明来保证新的区块与之前的区块保持先后顺序。这样一来，区块链的“分布式数据库”就能和整个网络保持一致。个体用户与总账的互动(交易)受到安全的密码保护。由数学执行并编码到协议中的经济激励因素刺激着维持和验证网络的节点。

Block chain technology is the bottom technology of Bitcoin, which was described for the first time in the white paper “bitcoin: point-to-point electronic cash system” published by Chinabone in 2008. More general uses of block chain technology were discussed in the original book, but only a few years later did block chain technology emerge as a generic term. A block chain is a distributed computing structure in which each network node executes and records the same transaction, and the transaction is grouped into blocks.

在比特币中，分布式数据库被设想为一个账户余额表，一个总账，交易就是通过比特币的转移以实现个体之间无需信任基础的金融活动。但是随着比特币吸引了越来越多开发者和技术专家的注意，新的项目开始将比特币网络用于有价代币转移之外的其他用途。其中很多都采用了“代币”的形式——以原始比特币协议为基础，增加了新的特征或功能，采用各自加密货币的独立区块链。在2013年末，以太坊的发明者Vitalik Buterin建议能够通过程序重组来运行任意复杂运算的单个区块链应该包含其他的程序。

In Bitcoin, the distributed database is conceived as an account balance table, and a master account, where transactions are carried out through the transfer of bitcoin to achieve financial activities that do not require trust among individuals. But, as Bitcoin attracts the attention of an increasing number of developers and technical experts, new projects begin to use the Bitcoin network for purposes other than currency transfers. Many of them are in the form of “demons” – based on the original bitcoin agreement, adding new features or functions, using separate block chains of their respective encrypted currencies. In late 2013, Taiyan inventor Vitalik Buterin suggested that individual block chains that could operate ad hoc complex calculations through procedural reorganization should contain other procedures.

2014年，以太坊的创始人Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood和Jeffrey Wilcke开始研究新一代区块链，试图实现一个总体上完全无需信任基础的智能合约平台。

In 2014, Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood and Jeffrey Wilcke, the founding fathers of the Taikus, began to study the new generation of block chains in an attempt to achieve an intelligent contractual platform that is generally completely untrustworthy.

以太坊虚拟机

Ether's Virtual Machine

以太坊是可编程的区块链。它并不是给用户一系列预先设定好的操作(例如比特币交易)，而是允许用户按照自己的意愿创建复杂的操作。这样一来，它就可以作为多种类型去中心化区块链应用的平台，包括加密货币在内但并不仅限于此。

Ether is a programmed block chain. It does not give users a set of predefined operations (e.g. bitcoin transactions) but allows them to create complex operations according to their own wishes. In this way, it can serve as a platform for multiple types of decentralized block chains, including encrypted currency, but it is not limited to that.

以太坊狭义上是指一系列定义去中心化应用平台的协议，它的核心是以太坊虚拟机(“EVM”)，可以执行任意复杂算法的编码。在计算机科学术语中，以太坊是“图灵完备的”。开发者能够使用现有的JavaScript和Python等语言为模型的其他友好的编程语言，创建出在以太坊模拟机上运行的应用。

In the narrow sense of Taipan, which refers to a series of agreements that define decentralised application platforms, the core of which is the Taiwan Virtual Machine (“EVM”), which can be coded for any complex algorithm. In computer science terms, the Tai Wan is “Turingly Perfect.” Developers can use the existing language of JavaScript and Python as a model for other friendly programming languages to create applications operating on the Taiyeon Simulator.

和其他区块链一样，以太坊也有一个点对点网络协议。以太坊区块链数据库由众多连接到网络的节点来维护和更新。每个网络节点都运行着以太坊模拟机并执行相同的指令。因此，人们有时形象地称以太坊为“世界电脑”。

As with other block chains, there is also a point-to-point network protocol in the Taiwan. The Taiwan block chain database is maintained and updated from multiple nodes connected to the network. Each network node runs an E-Taiwan simulation machine and carries out the same instructions. Thus, it is sometimes portrayed as a “world computer”.

这个贯穿整个以太坊网络的大规模并行运算并不是为了使运算更高效。实际上，这个过程使得在以太坊上的运算比在传统“电脑”上更慢更昂贵。然而，每个以太坊节点都运行着以太坊虚拟机是为了保持整个区块链的一致性。去中心化的一致使以太坊有极高的故障容错性，保证零停机，而且可以使存储在区块链上的数据保持永远不变且抗审查。

This large-scale parallel operation, which cuts through the entire Etherm network, is not meant to be more efficient. In fact, this process makes it more slow and expensive to operate in Etherm than in traditional computers. However, each of the Etherm nodes runs the Etherm Virtual Machine in order to keep the entire block chain consistent. Decentralized coherence makes the Ether highly faulty, ensures zero shutdowns, and allows data stored on the block chain to remain constant and resistant to censorship.

以太坊平台本身没有特点，没有价值性。和编程语言相似，它由企业家和开发者决定其用途。不过很明显，某些应用类型较之其他更能从以太坊的功能中获益。以太坊尤其适合那些在点与点之间自动进行直接交互或者跨网络促进小组协调活动的应用。 例如，协调点对点市场的应用，或是复杂财务合同的自动化。比特币使个体能够不借助金融机构、银行或政府等其他中介来进行货币交换。以太坊的影响可能更为深远。理论上，任何复杂的金融活动或交易都能在以太坊上用编码自动且可靠地进行。除金融类应用外，任何对信任、安全和持久性要求较高的应用场景——比如资产注册、投票、管理和物联网——都会大规模地受到以太坊平台影响。

In the same way as in programming language, it is determined by entrepreneurs and developers. It is clear, however, that some types of applications benefit more than others from the functioning of Etheria. In theory, any complex financial activity or transaction can be carried out automatically and reliably with coded codes in ethers. Any application with high confidence, security and sustainability requirements — such as asset registration, voting, management and networking — will be influenced on a large scale by a platform other than financial applications.

以太坊如何工作?

How's Ether?

以太坊合并了很多对比特币用户来说十分熟悉的特征和技术，同时自己也进行了很多修正和创新。比特币区块链纯粹是一个关于交易的列表，而以太坊的基础单元是账户。以太坊区块链跟踪每个账户的状态，所有以太坊区块链上的状态转换都是账户之间价值和信息的转移。账户分为两类：

The cell chain is purely a list of transactions, while the cell block chain is an account. The cell block chain tracks the status of each account, and all status conversions in the cell chain are a transfer of value and information between accounts. The account is divided into two categories:

外有账户(EOA)，由私人密码控制

External account (EOA) controlled by private password

合同账户，由它们的合同编码控制，只能由外有账户“激活”

Contract accounts, controlled by their contractual codes, can only be “activated” by external accounts

对于大部分用户来说，两者基本的区别在于外有账户是由人类用户掌控——因为他们能够控制私钥，进而控制外有账户。而合同账户则是由内部编码管控。如果他们是被人类用户“控制”的，那也是因为程序设定它们被具有特定地址的外有账户控制，进而被持有私钥控制外有账户的人控制着。“智能合约”这个流行的术语指的是在合同账户中编码——交易被发送给该账户时所运行的程序。用户可以通过在区块链中部署编码来创建新的合约。

For most users, the basic difference between the two is that external accounts are controlled by human users – because they are able to control private keys and thus external accounts. The contract accounts are controlled by internal coding. If they are “controlled” by human users, it is also because the program assumes that they are controlled by an account with a specific address and then controlled by a person with a private key controlling an account. The popular term “intellectual contract” refers to a program that is encoded in a contractual account — a transaction that was performed when it was sent to that account. Users can create a new contract by deploying a code in a block chain.

只有当外有账户发出指令时，合同账户才会执行相应的操作。所以合约账户不可能自发地执行诸如任意数码生成或应用程序界面调用等操作-只有受外有账户提示时，它才会做这些事。这是因为以太坊要求节点能够与运算结果保持一致，这就要求保证严格确定执行。

The contract account will be able to perform the corresponding operations only if the account is instructed to do so. Therefore, it is not possible for the contract account to automatically perform such operations as any digital generation or application interface calls - it will do so only if it is prompted to do so by an external account. This is because the court requires that nodes be consistent with the results of the calculations, which requires that enforcement be strictly determined.

和比特币一样，以太坊用户必须向网络支付少量交易费用。这可以使以太坊区块链免受无关紧要或恶意的运算任务干扰，比如分布式拒绝服务(DDoS)攻击或无限循环 。交易的发送者必须在激活的“程序”每一步付款，包括运算和记忆储存。费用通过以太坊自有的有价代币，以太币的形式支付。

As in Bitcoin, users in Taiwan are required to pay a small amount of transaction costs to the network. This protects the Ether block chain from minor or malicious computing tasks, such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks or unlimited loops. The sender of the transaction must pay at every step of the activated “procedure”, including operation and memory storage.

交易费用由节点收集，节点使网络生效。这些“矿工”就是以太坊网络中收集、传播、确认和执行交易的节点。矿工们将交易分组——包括许多以太坊区块链中账户“状态”的更新——分成的组被称为“区块”，矿工们会互相竞争，以使他们的区块可以添加到下一个区块链上。矿工们每挖到一个成功的区块就会得到以太币奖励。这就为人们带来了经济激励，促使人们为以太坊网络贡献硬件和电力。

The transaction costs are collected by nodes, which give effect to the network. These “miners” are the nodes in which transactions are collected, disseminated, confirmed and executed in the Taiyu network. Miners call the trade groups — including many of the updates to the “state” of accounts in the Tetriang chain — “blocks” and the miners will compete so that their blocks can be added to the next block chain. Miners will be rewarded with too much money every time they dig a successful block. This provides economic incentives for people to contribute hardware and electricity to the Tetricom network.

和比特币网络一样，矿工们有解决复杂数学问题的任务以便成功地“挖”到区块。这被称为“工作量证明”。一个运算问题，如果在算法上解决，比验证解决方法需要更多数量级的资源，那么它就是工作证明的极佳选择。为防止比特币网络中已经发生的，专门硬件(例如特定用途集成电路)造成的中心化现象，以太坊选择了难以存储的运算问题。如果问题需要存储器和CPU，事实上理想的硬件是普通的电脑。这就使以太坊的工作量证明具有抗特定用途集成电路性，和比特币这种由专门硬件控制挖矿的区块链相比，能够带来更加去中心化的安全分布。

Like the Bitcoin network, miners have the task of solving complex mathematical problems in order to “draw” to blocks successfully. This is called “ workload proof.” A calculation problem, if solved by algorithms, requires more quantitative resources than by validation solutions, is an excellent choice. To prevent the centralization of specialized hardware (e.g., integrated circuits for specific purposes) already occurring in the Bitcoin network, too much has been chosen as a matter of hard to store.