mtojek/blockchain-200-lines-networking

This project shows you how to add networking to a basic blockchain, written in under 200 lines of Go code. The main benefit is educational: it helps you understand how separate computers can talk to each other to share and agree on a distributed ledger, rather than just running a blockchain on a single machine. It is the second part of a tutorial series, building on a previous project that covered the basics of creating a simple blockchain. At a high level, a blockchain is just a shared record book that multiple computers hold copies of. For that record book to be useful, all the computers need a way to communicate so that when someone adds a new entry, everyone else gets updated. This project implements that communication layer. It sets up a simple network where computers can connect, share new blocks they create, and receive blocks from others to keep their own copies in sync. The ideal user is a beginner or curious founder who wants a hands-on, bare-bones look at how blockchain networking actually works under the hood, without getting lost in massive codebases or complex industry jargon. If you have ever wondered how a decentralized network reaches consensus or how new transactions propagate across the internet, working through this code gives you a tangible example rather than just an abstract concept. What is notable about this project is its extreme minimalism. By keeping the entire networking implementation under 200 lines, it strips away all the advanced features, security layers, and optimizations you would find in a production system. This makes the core concepts much easier to read and understand, but it also means the code is strictly for learning. You would not use this to run a real application, but it serves as an excellent starting point for understanding the mechanics behind one.