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README.md

Quark

Quarks are the fundamental building blocks of atoms through which DNA, life, and matter arise. Similarly this package is the core framework for constructing the atom tokens which will power The Cosmos Network.

The Quark framework affords you all the tools you need to rapidly develop robust blockchains and blockchain applications which are interoperable with The Cosmos Hub. Quark is an abstraction of Tendermint which provides the core consensus engine for your blockchain. Beyond consensus, Quark provides a blockchain development 'starter-pack' of common blockchain modules while not enforcing their use thus giving maximum flexibility for application customization. For example, do you require fees, how do you want to log messages, do you enable IBC, do you even have a cryptocurrency?

Disclaimer: when power and flexibility meet, the result is also some level of complexity and a learning curve. Here is an introduction to the core concepts embedded in Quark.

Inspiration

The basic concept came from years of web development. A number of patterns have arisen in that realm of software which enable people to build remote servers with APIs remarkably quickly and with high stability. The ABCI application interface is similar to a web API (DeliverTx is like POST and Query is like GET and SetOption is like the admin playing with the config file). Here are some patterns that might be useful:

  • MVC - separate data model (storage) from business logic (controllers)
  • Routers - easily direct each request to the appropriate controller
  • Middleware - a series of wrappers that provide global functionality (like authentication) to all controllers
  • Modules (gems, package, ...) - developers can write a self-contained package with a given set of functionality, which can be imported and reused in other apps

Also, the idea of different tables/schemas in databases, so you can keep the different modules safely separated and avoid any accidental (or malicious) overwriting of data.

Not all of these can be pulled one-to-one in the blockchain world, but they do provide inspiration to provide orthogonal pieces that can easily be combined into various applications.

Further reading