A hands-on educational blockchain implementation that demonstrates the core concepts of blockchain technology through an engaging, interactive command-line interface.
Blockchain Explorer is an interactive learning tool designed to help you understand the fundamental mechanics of blockchain technology:
- Block Structure - See how data is organized in a blockchain
- Hashing & Chain Linking - Explore cryptographic connections between blocks
- Proof-of-Work - Experience mining firsthand
- Tamper Detection - Witness blockchain's immutability in action
Unlike most blockchain tutorials that only explain concepts theoretically, this tool lets you actually interact with a working blockchain implementation!
- 🔄 Genesis Block Creation: Every chain starts somewhere
- 🔐 SHA-256 Hashing: Industry-standard cryptographic security
- ⛏️ Configurable Mining Difficulty: Experience different computational challenges
- ⛓️ Chain Validation: Verify the integrity of your blockchain
- 🕹️ Manual Mining Mode: Step through the mining process to understand proof-of-work
- 🔍 Block Explorer: Examine the details of any block in your chain
- 🧪 Tampering Simulator: See firsthand how modifying data breaks the chain
- 📊 Real-time Hash Visualization: Watch hashes change as you alter data
🔗 BLOCKCHAIN INTERACTIVE DEMO 🔗
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1. Add a new block
2. View the entire blockchain
3. Validate the blockchain
4. Tamper with a block (for demonstration)
5. Change mining difficulty
6. Manual mining demonstration
7. Search for a block by index
8. View detailed block information
9. Exit
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Enter your choice (1-9):
- How blockchain data structures work
- Why hashing is essential for blockchain integrity
- How blocks are linked to form a secure chain
- What makes a blockchain "immutable"
- How Proof-of-Work consensus functions
- Why tampering with blockchain data is detectable
This implementation includes:
- Block Structure with index, timestamp, data, hash, and previous hash
- Blockchain Class managing the chain of blocks
- Mining System with adjustable difficulty
- Validation Logic to check chain integrity
- Interactive CLI for exploring all features
- Python 3.6 or higher
- Node.js 12.x or higher
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Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/abhishek007-git/blockchain-explorer.git cd blockchain-demo -
No additional dependencies required! Both versions use only standard libraries.
python blockchain-demo.pynode blockchain-demo.js- Start the application using the command for your preferred language
- Navigate the menu by entering the number of your chosen option
- Explore blockchain features one by one:
-
Create your first block (Option 1)
- Enter some sample data like "My First Transaction"
- Watch as the mining process finds a valid nonce
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View your blockchain (Option 2)
- See your genesis block and newly added block
- Note how each block references the previous one
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Try manual mining (Option 6)
- Experience the proof-of-work process step by step
- See how changing the nonce affects the hash
-
Tamper with data (Option 4)
- Modify a block's data
- Verify the chain is now invalid (Option 3)
-
Adjust mining difficulty (Option 5)
- Increase the difficulty to see how it affects mining time
- Decrease it to make mining faster
-
Explore block details (Option 8)
- Examine the contents of any block in depth
- See how the hash is constructed from the block's properties
Contributions are welcome! This is an educational project, so enhancements that improve its teaching value are especially appreciated.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- Satoshi Nakamoto, for inventing blockchain as we know it
- All blockchain educators making this technology more accessible
Happy blockchain exploring! 🔍⛓️