What is ethereum?
Ethereum is a deterministic, but unbounded state machine that consists of a global singleton state and a virual machine that applies changes to that state.
Ethereum uses ether as the currency for transactions and execution costs.
Key components of a blockchain:
P2P Network that connects participants and execute transactions and blocks of verified transactions.
This is based on a standard "gossip protocol"
Messages (Transactions) that represent state changes
Chain of blocks (hence the name blockchain) that are connected to eachother. Each block keeps the previous's block 's hash, hence why they are connected in a chain-like matter. It also serves as a journal for all of the transactions that have happened.
Consensus algorithm that decentralizes the control by making sure the participants cooperate with the consensus rules
Incentive: proof-of-work costs & block rewards. This funds the ecosystem and makes sure that the state machine can be used in an open environment.
How does Ethereum deal with DoS attacks and overuse of resources?
Ethereum has a metering resources, namely gas. As the EVM of Ethereum executes a smart contract, it calculates the costs of each instruction
When a transaction triggers the execution of a smart contract, it must include the upper limit of what that smart contract may consume in resources.
Gas can only be bought with ether and is only used for transactions. Anything thats left after a transaction is returned to the user
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