Frequently Asked Questions¶
This document will focus on the technology behind the Nebulas platform. For broader questions, please view the Reddit FAQ.
For a better understanding of the Nebulas platform it’s highly recommended to read the Nebulas Technical Whitepaper.
Table of Contents
- Nebulas Rank (NR)
- Nebulas Force (NF)
- Developer Incentive Protocol (DIP)
- Proof of Devotion (PoD) Consensus Algorithm
- Nebulas Search Engine
- Fundamentals
Nebulas Rank (NR)¶
Measures value by considering liquidity and propagation of the address. Nebulas Ranking tries to establish a trustful, computable and deterministic measurement approach. With the value ranking system, we will see more and more outstanding applications surfacing on the Nebulas platform.
When will Nebulas Rank (NR) be ready?¶
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Will dApps with more transactions naturally be ranked higher?¶
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How does the Nebulas Rank (NR) separate quality dApps from highly transacted dApps?¶
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Is the Nebulas Ranking algorithm open-source?¶
Yes
Who can contribute to the algorithm?¶
At this time the Nebulas core team is responsible for the development of the algorithm. Over time we will open it up to the community to contribute and vote to determine the future of the algorithm.
Can the Nebulas Rank (NR) algorithm be cheated?¶
We will implement strict manipulation controls, and of course the Nebulas Rank (NR) will continually be evolving to meet the needs of the community.
Nebulas Force (NF)¶
Supports upgrading core protocols and smart contracts on the chains. It provides self-evolving capabilities to Nebulas system and its applications. With Nebulas Force, developers can build rich applications in fast iterations, and the applications can dynamically adapt to community or market changes.
When will Nebulas Force (NF) be ready?¶
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Can smart contracts be upgraded?¶
Yes, [short summary explaining how it works]
How is Nebulas Force (NF) smart contract upgrading better than other solutions that are currently or soon-to-be available?¶
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Can the Nebulas blockchain protocol code be upgraded without forking?¶
Yes, [short summary explaining how it works]
Can the Nebulas Virtual Machine (NVM) be upgraded?¶
Yes, [short summary explaining how it works]
Developer Incentive Protocol (DIP)¶
Designed to build the blockchain ecosystem in a better way. The Nebulas token incentives will help top developers to create more values in Nebulas.
When will the Developer Incentive Protocol (DIP) be ready?¶
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Will there be a limit as to how many rewards one dApp can receive?¶
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Will developers still be able to do their own ICOs?¶
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Will only the top Nebulas Rank (NR) dApps receive rewards?¶
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How often will rewards be given?¶
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How will you stop cheaters?¶
The way the DIP is is designed makes it very hard for cheaters to be successful. Since smart contracts can only be called passively, it would be highly cost ineffective for a user to try to cheat the system. More about this topic can be read in the Technical Whitepaper.
Proof of Devotion (PoD) Consensus Algorithm¶
To build a healthy ecosystem, Nebulas proposes three key points for consensus algorithm: speediness, irreversibility and fairness. By adopting the advantages of PoS and PoI, and leveraging NR, PoD will take the lead in consensus algorithms.
When will the Proof of Devotion (PoD) Consensus Algorithm be ready?¶
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What consensus algorithm will be used until PoD is ready?¶
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How are bookkeepers chosen?¶
The PoD consensus algorithm uses the Nebulas Rank (NR) to qualify nodes to be eligible. One node from the set is randomly chosen to propose the new block and the rest will become the validators.
Do bookkeepers still have to stake?¶
Yes, once chosen to be a validator for a new block, the validator will need to place a deposit to continue.
How many validators will there be in each set?¶
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What anti-cheating mechanisms are there?¶
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Nebulas Search Engine¶
Nebulas constructs a search engine for decentralized applications based on Nebulas value ranking. Using this engine, users can easily find desired decentralized applications from the massive market.
When will the Nebulas Search Engine be ready?¶
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Will you be able to search dApps not on the Nebulas platform?¶
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Will the Nebulas Search Engine also be decentralized?¶
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Will the Nebulas Rank (NR) control the search results ranking?¶
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What data will you be able to search?¶
We plan many different ways to be able to search the blockchain:
- crawl relevant webpages and establish mapping between them and the smart contracts
- analyze the code of open-source smart contracts
- establish contract standards that enable easier searching
Fundamentals¶
Nebulas Name Service (NNS)¶
By using smart contracts, the Nebulas development team will implement a DNS-like domain system named Nebulas Name Service (NNS) on the chain while ensuring that it is unrestricted, free and open. Any third-party developers can implement their own domain name resolution services independently or based on NNS.
When will the Nebulas Name Service be ready?¶
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When a name is bid on, how long do others have to place their bid?¶
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How do others get notified that a name is being bid on?¶
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When a name is reserved who gets the bid amount?¶
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If I want to renew my name after one year will I need to deposit more NAS?¶
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Will we be able to reserve names prior to the launch of NNS?¶
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Lightning Network¶
Nebulas implements the lightning network as the infrastructure of blockchains and offers flexible design. Any third-party developers can use the basic service of lightning network to develop applications for frequent transaction scenarios on Nebulas. In addition, Nebulas will launch the world’s first wallet app that supports the lightning network.
When will lightning network be supported?¶
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The Nebulas Token (NAS)¶
The Nebulas network has its own built-in token, NAS. NAS plays two roles in the network. First, as the original money in the network, NAS provides asset liquidity among users, and functions as the incentive token for PoD bookkeepers and DIP. Second, NAS will be charged as the calculation fee for running smart contracts. The minimum unit of NAS is 10−18 NAS.
What will happen to the Nebulas ERC20 tokens when NAS is launched?¶
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Will dApps on the Nebulas platform be able to issue their owns ICOs and tokens?¶
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Smart Contracts¶
What languages will be supported when Main-net launches?¶
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Will Ethereum Smart Contracts (Solidity) be fully supported?¶
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What other language support will follow (and when)?¶
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binary storage¶
What is recommended way to store binary data in Nebulas blockchain? Is it possible at all? Do you encourage such use of blockchain? Also, i couldn’t find information regarding GlobalContractStorage mentioned in docs, what is it?
Currently binary data can be stored on chain by binary transaction. The limit size of binary is 128k. But we don’t encourage storing data on the chain because the user might store some illegal data.
GlobalContractStorage
not currently implemented. It provides support for multiple contract sharing data for the same developer.
ChainID & connect¶
Can you tell us what the chainID of Mainnet and Testnet is? I have compiled the source code of our nebulas, but not even our test network?
chainID of Nebulas:
- Mainnet: 1
- Testnet: 1001
- private: default 100, users can customize the values.
The network connection:
smart contract deploy¶
Our smart contract deployment, I think is to submit all contract code directly, is the deployment method like this?
Yeah, We can deploy the contract code directly, just as it is to release code to the NPM repository, which is very simple and convenient.
smart contract IDE¶
We don’t have any other smart contract ides, like solidity’s “Remix”? Or is there documentation detailing which contract parameters can be obtained? (because I need to implement the random number and realize the logic, I calculate the final random number according to the parameters of the network, so I may need some additional network parameters that will not be manipulated.)
You can use web-wallet to deploy the contract, it has test function to check the parameters and contract execution result.