Dev Release 104

Greeting BlockDAG Community,

Today, we’ve made significant progress in our development efforts with a focused sprint planning session for the upcoming release of the BlockDAG blockchain explorer. The team has successfully completed the implementation of UTXO support for both the blocks and transaction modules. With this, the explorer can now effectively track and display unspent transaction outputs, a crucial feature for enhancing blockchain transparency.
Testing Phase: Ensuring Quality and Stability
We have officially entered the testing phase for the UTXO functionality. Our QA team has begun rigorous testing to ensure that the explorer performs smoothly, particularly focusing on data accuracy and seamless redirection within the explorer. During this phase, the development team will address any issues that arise. After the necessary fixes are made, a comprehensive regression test will be conducted to validate that both the EVM and UTXO models are functioning harmoniously.

In parallel with UTXO testing, we are thrilled to announce that our developers have started implementing smart contract support within the BlockDAG explorer. This feature will initially allow users to view smart contract transactions directly through the explorer, offering insight into how these contracts interact with the blockchain.
Publishing Smart Contracts
Users will be able to execute smart contracts using various methods, ensuring flexibility and ease of use:

1. Direct Deployment via Wallets: Developers can deploy their contracts using supported wallets like MetaMask, directly interacting with the BlockDAG network.
2. Using Third-Party Applications: Users can also execute smart contracts through third-party applications such as Remix, a popular web-based IDE for smart contract development. This method allows for advanced contract interactions and testing before deploying them on the BlockDAG network.
    

Future Scope: Expanding Smart Contract Interactions
We have ambitious plans to expand the explorer’s smart contract functionalities by integrating the following APIs:

• Contract Verification API: This will enable developers to verify and publish their contract source code on the BlockDAG blockchain, ensuring transparency and building trust. Verified contracts will be highlighted in the explorer, making them easier to identify and interact with.
• Read Contract API: Users will be able to interact with the methods of verified contracts, allowing them to query contract states, such as retrieving balances or other stored data, directly through the explorer.
• Write Contract API: This API will allow users to execute smart contract functions via the explorer, facilitating seamless interaction with decentralized applications (dApps).
   

Technical Insights and Algorithms
To support the new smart contract functionality, we are implementing several technical algorithms. Below are pseudo-codes for these algorithms, providing a glimpse into the underlying processes:
1. Transaction Parsing Algorithm
This algorithm identifies and categorizes smart contract transactions, distinguishing them from regular blockchain transactions.
 

function parseTransaction(transaction):

   if transaction.type == "smart_contract":

       if transaction.method == "creation":

           categorizeAs("Contract Creation")

       else:

           categorizeAs("Contract Execution")

   else:

       categorizeAs("Standard Transaction")

2. Event Indexing Algorithm
This algorithm indexes smart contract events to allow users to search and retrieve logs efficiently.
 

function indexEvents(transaction):

   events = extractEvents(transaction)

   for event in events:

       eventHash = hashEvent(event)

       addToIndex(eventHash, event)

3. Gas Usage Optimization
This algorithm estimates optimal gas usage for smart contract transactions.
 

function estimateGasUsage(contractCall):
   gasLimit = getBaseGasLimit()

   if contractCall.isComplex():

       gasLimit += calculateAdditionalGas(contractCall)

   return gasLimit

4. State Management Algorithm
This algorithm manages the retrieval and display of the current state of smart contracts, ensuring quick and accurate responses.
 

function getState(contractAddress):

   stateTrie = fetchStateTrie(contractAddress)

   cachedState = checkCache(contractAddress)

   if cachedState:

       return cachedState

   else:

       currentState = queryState(stateTrie)

       updateCache(contractAddress, currentState)

       return currentState

Conclusion
The development of the BlockDAG explorer continues to progress rapidly. The introduction of smart contract transaction visibility is just the beginning of our efforts to enhance user interaction with the blockchain. The upcoming features will enable deeper engagement with smart contracts, making the BlockDAG explorer a powerful tool for developers and users alike.

Over the weekend, users of the BlockDAG X1 Miner application encountered a significant issue where the app became unresponsive and stuck on the loading screen. We understand the inconvenience this has caused and want to provide an update on what happened and the steps we're taking to resolve it.

Issue Monitoring and Diagnosis
Our team closely monitored the situation as reports came in from users. After thorough investigation, we identified that the problem might be related to the API hits being routed through Cloudflare. It appears that a sudden influx or mismanagement of these API requests could be causing the application to hang, leading to the unresponsiveness that users experienced.

Debugging and Resolution
Once the potential cause was identified, our developers immediately began debugging the issue. We are currently fine-tuning the API management and exploring configurations in Cloudflare that could prevent such issues from recurring. This involves analyzing the traffic patterns, ensuring optimal request handling, and implementing safeguards to manage load spikes more effectively.

Next Steps
The team is working diligently to resolve this issue and restore the application to a stable state. We are confident that the BlockDAG X1 Miner application will be up and running smoothly again very soon. Our priority is to ensure that the application remains reliable for all users, and we are committed to taking any necessary steps to achieve that.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this, and we’ll keep you updated on our progress.