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* Create sui-glossary.md Launch initial glossary of terms for Sui * Update sui-glossary.md Making accumulator-gateway relationship clear * Update sui-glossary.md Fixed epoch entry and linked to our canonical definition
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title: Sui Glossary | ||
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Find terms used in Sui defined below. Where possible, we link to a canonical definition and focus upon Sui’s use of the term. | ||
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### Accumulator | ||
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An [accumulator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accumulator_(cryptography)) makes sure the transaction is received by a quorum of authorities, | ||
collects a quorum of votes, submits the certificate to the authorities, and replies to the client. The accumulator enables transactions to be | ||
certified. Sui offers a Gateway service that can assume the role of accumulator and collect votes on transactions from authorities in Sui, | ||
saving end users bandwidth. | ||
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### Authority | ||
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An authority in Sui plays a passive role analogous to the more active role of validators and minors in other blockchains. In Sui, | ||
authorities do not continuously participate in the consensus protocol but are called into action only when receiving a transaction or | ||
certificate. | ||
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For more information, see [Authorities vs validators/miners](how-sui-works.md#authorities-vs-validators-miners). | ||
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### Causal order | ||
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[Causal order](https://www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/causal-ordering/) is a representation of the relationship between transactions | ||
and the objects they produce, laid out as dependencies. Authorities cannot execute a transaction dependent on object created by a prior | ||
transaction that has not finished. Rather than total order, Sui uses causal order. | ||
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For more information, see [Causal order vs total order](how-sui-works.md#causal-order-vs-total-order). | ||
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### Certificate | ||
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A certificate is the mechanism proving a transaction has been approved, or certified. Authorities vote on transactions, and the sender collects | ||
a Byzantine-resistant-majority of these votes into a certificate and broadcasts it to all Sui authorities, thereby ensuring finality. | ||
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### Equivocation | ||
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Equivocation in blockchains is the malicious action of dishonest actors giving conflicting information, such as inconsistent or duplicate voting. | ||
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### Epoch | ||
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Operation of the Sui network is temporally partitioned into non-overlapping, fixed-duration (e.g. 24-hour) *epochs*. During a particular epoch, the set of authorities participating in the network is fixed. | ||
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For more information, see [Epochs](../build/authorities.md#epochs). | ||
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### Eventual consistency | ||
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[Eventual consistency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eventual_consistency) is the consensus model employed by Sui; if one honest authority | ||
certifies the transaction, all of the other honest authorities will too eventually. | ||
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### Family history | ||
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Family history is the relationship between an object in Sui and its direct predecessors and successors. This history is essential to the causal | ||
order Sui uses to process transactions. In contrast, other blockchains attempt to read the entire state of their world for each transaction, | ||
introducing great latency. | ||
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### Finality | ||
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[Finality](https://medium.com/mechanism-labs/finality-in-blockchain-consensus-d1f83c120a9a) is the assurance a transaction will not be revoked. This | ||
stage is considered closure for an exchange or other blockchain transaction. | ||
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### Gas | ||
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As with other blockchains, [gas](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gas-ethereum.asp) in Sui is the currency for the cost of conducting a transaction. | ||
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### Genesis | ||
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Genesis is the initial act of creating accounts and gas objects. Sui provides a `genesis` command that | ||
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For more information, see [Genesis](../build/wallet.md#genesis). | ||
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### Gateway service | ||
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Sui provides a Gateway service that enables third parties, say app/game developers, to route transactions on behalf of users. Because Sui never requires | ||
exchange of private keys, third parties may offload bandwidth use from mobile device to server - for a fee. | ||
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### Multi-writer objects | ||
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Multi-writer objects are those owned by more than one account. Transactions affecting multi-writer objects require consensus in Sui. This contrasts with | ||
those affecting only single-writer objects, which require only a confirmation of the owner’s account. | ||
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### Proof-of-stake | ||
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[Proof-of-stake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_stake) is a blockchain consensus mechanism where the voting weights of authorities or validators is | ||
proportional to their stake in the network. This mitigates attacks by forcing bad actors to gain a large stake in the blockchain first. | ||
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### Smart contract | ||
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A [smart contract](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_contract) is an agreement based upon the protocol for conducting transactions in a blockchain. In Sui, | ||
smart contracts are written in the [Move](https://github.com/MystenLabs/awesome-move) programming language. | ||
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### Single-writer objects | ||
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Single-writer objects are owned by one account. In Sui, transactions affecting only single-writer objects owned by the same account may proceed with only a | ||
check of the sender’s account, greatly speeding transaction times. | ||
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### Total order | ||
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Total order is the view of the entire state of a blockchain at any given time. This is used by many blockchain systems to certify transactions. In contrast, | ||
Sui uses causal order. | ||
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For more information, see [Causal order vs total order](how-sui-works.md#causal-order-vs-total-order). | ||
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### Transfer | ||
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A transfer is switching the owner address of a token to a new one via command in Sui. This is accomplished via the | ||
[Sui Wallet](../build/wallet.md) command line interface. It is one of the more common of many commands | ||
available in the wallet. | ||
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For more information, see [Transferring objects](../build/wallet.md#transferring-objects). |