Explain proof-of-history in the readme

Also:
* Hash userdata so that verification works as the readme describes.
* Drop itertools package. Found a way to use std::iter instead.

Fixes #8

Cargo.toml

@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ asm = ["sha2-asm"]
 
 [dependencies]
 rayon = "1.0.0"
-itertools = "0.7.6"
 sha2 = "0.7.0"
 sha2-asm = {version="0.3", optional=true}
 digest = "0.7.2"

README.md

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ use std::sync::mpsc::SendError;
 fn create_log(hist: &Historian) -> Result<(), SendError<Event>> {
     hist.sender.send(Event::Tick)?;
     thread::sleep(time::Duration::new(0, 100_000));
-    hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(0xdeadbeef))?;
+    hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(Sha256Hash::default()))?;
     thread::sleep(time::Duration::new(0, 100_000));
     hist.sender.send(Event::Tick)?;
     Ok(())
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ fn main() {
     for entry in &entries {
         println!("{:?}", entry);
     }
+
+    // Proof-of-History: Verify the historian learned about the events
+    // in the same order they appear in the vector.
     assert!(verify_slice(&entries, &seed));
 }
 ```
@@ -62,6 +65,19 @@ Entry { num_hashes: 6, end_hash: [67, ...], event: UserDataKey(3735928559) }
 Entry { num_hashes: 5, end_hash: [123, ...], event: Tick }
 ```
 
+Proof-of-History
+---
+
+Take note of the last line:
+
+```rust
+assert!(verify_slice(&entries, &seed));
+```
+
+[It's a proof!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry–Howard_correspondence) For each entry returned by the
+historian, we can verify that `end_hash` is the result of applying a sha256 hash to the previous `end_hash`
+exactly `num_hashes` times, and then hashing then event data on top of that. Because the event data is
+included in the hash, the events cannot be reordered without regenerating all the hashes.
 
 # Developing
 

src/bin/demo.rs

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use std::sync::mpsc::SendError;
 fn create_log(hist: &Historian) -> Result<(), SendError<Event>> {
     hist.sender.send(Event::Tick)?;
     thread::sleep(time::Duration::new(0, 100_000));
-    hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(0xdeadbeef))?;
+    hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(Sha256Hash::default()))?;
     thread::sleep(time::Duration::new(0, 100_000));
     hist.sender.send(Event::Tick)?;
     Ok(())

src/historian.rs

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 use std::thread::JoinHandle;
 use std::sync::mpsc::{Receiver, Sender};
-use log::{hash, Entry, Event, Sha256Hash};
+use log::{extend_and_hash, hash, Entry, Event, Sha256Hash};
 
 pub struct Historian {
     pub sender: Sender<Event>,
@@ -24,31 +24,33 @@ pub enum ExitReason {
 fn log_events(
     receiver: &Receiver<Event>,
     sender: &Sender<Entry>,
-    num_hashes: u64,
+    num_hashes: &mut u64,
-    end_hash: Sha256Hash,
+    end_hash: &mut Sha256Hash,
-) -> Result<u64, (Entry, ExitReason)> {
+) -> Result<(), (Entry, ExitReason)> {
     use std::sync::mpsc::TryRecvError;
-    let mut num_hashes = num_hashes;
     loop {
         match receiver.try_recv() {
             Ok(event) => {
+                if let Event::UserDataKey(key) = event {
+                    *end_hash = extend_and_hash(end_hash, &key);
+                }
                 let entry = Entry {
-                    end_hash,
+                    end_hash: *end_hash,
-                    num_hashes,
+                    num_hashes: *num_hashes,
                     event,
                 };
                 if let Err(_) = sender.send(entry.clone()) {
                     return Err((entry, ExitReason::SendDisconnected));
                 }
-                num_hashes = 0;
+                *num_hashes = 0;
             }
             Err(TryRecvError::Empty) => {
-                return Ok(num_hashes);
+                return Ok(());
             }
             Err(TryRecvError::Disconnected) => {
                 let entry = Entry {
-                    end_hash,
+                    end_hash: *end_hash,
-                    num_hashes,
+                    num_hashes: *num_hashes,
                     event: Event::Tick,
                 };
                 return Err((entry, ExitReason::RecvDisconnected));
@@ -69,9 +71,8 @@ pub fn create_logger(
         let mut end_hash = start_hash;
         let mut num_hashes = 0;
         loop {
-            match log_events(&receiver, &sender, num_hashes, end_hash) {
+            if let Err(err) = log_events(&receiver, &sender, &mut num_hashes, &mut end_hash) {
-                Ok(n) => num_hashes = n,
+                return err;
-                Err(err) => return err,
             }
             end_hash = hash(&end_hash);
             num_hashes += 1;
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         hist.sender.send(Event::Tick).unwrap();
         sleep(Duration::new(0, 1_000_000));
-        hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(0xdeadbeef)).unwrap();
+        hist.sender.send(Event::UserDataKey(zero)).unwrap();
         sleep(Duration::new(0, 1_000_000));
         hist.sender.send(Event::Tick).unwrap();
 

src/lib.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@
 pub mod log;
 pub mod historian;
 extern crate digest;
-extern crate itertools;
 extern crate rayon;
 extern crate sha2;

src/log.rs

@@ -32,24 +32,24 @@ pub struct Entry {
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone)]
 pub enum Event {
     Tick,
-    UserDataKey(u64),
+    UserDataKey(Sha256Hash),
 }
 
 impl Entry {
     /// Creates a Entry from the number of hashes 'num_hashes' since the previous event
     /// and that resulting 'end_hash'.
     pub fn new_tick(num_hashes: u64, end_hash: &Sha256Hash) -> Self {
-        let event = Event::Tick;
         Entry {
             num_hashes,
             end_hash: *end_hash,
-            event,
+            event: Event::Tick,
         }
     }
 
     /// Verifies self.end_hash is the result of hashing a 'start_hash' 'self.num_hashes' times.
+    /// If the event is a UserDataKey, then hash that as well.
     pub fn verify(self: &Self, start_hash: &Sha256Hash) -> bool {
-        self.end_hash == next_tick(start_hash, self.num_hashes).end_hash
+        self.end_hash == next_hash(start_hash, self.num_hashes, &self.event)
     }
 }
 
@@ -60,13 +60,36 @@ pub fn hash(val: &[u8]) -> Sha256Hash {
     hasher.result()
 }
 
-/// Creates the next Tick Entry 'num_hashes' after 'start_hash'.
+/// Return the hash of the given hash extended with the given value.
-pub fn next_tick(start_hash: &Sha256Hash, num_hashes: u64) -> Entry {
+pub fn extend_and_hash(end_hash: &Sha256Hash, val: &[u8]) -> Sha256Hash {
+    let mut hash_data = end_hash.to_vec();
+    hash_data.extend_from_slice(val);
+    hash(&hash_data)
+}
+
+pub fn next_hash(start_hash: &Sha256Hash, num_hashes: u64, event: &Event) -> Sha256Hash {
     let mut end_hash = *start_hash;
     for _ in 0..num_hashes {
         end_hash = hash(&end_hash);
     }
-    Entry::new_tick(num_hashes, &end_hash)
+    if let Event::UserDataKey(key) = *event {
+        return extend_and_hash(&end_hash, &key);
+    }
+    end_hash
+}
+
+/// Creates the next Tick Entry 'num_hashes' after 'start_hash'.
+pub fn next_entry(start_hash: &Sha256Hash, num_hashes: u64, event: Event) -> Entry {
+    Entry {
+        num_hashes,
+        end_hash: next_hash(start_hash, num_hashes, &event),
+        event,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Creates the next Tick Entry 'num_hashes' after 'start_hash'.
+pub fn next_tick(start_hash: &Sha256Hash, num_hashes: u64) -> Entry {
+    next_entry(start_hash, num_hashes, Event::Tick)
 }
 
 /// Verifies the hashes and counts of a slice of events are all consistent.
@@ -86,13 +109,16 @@ pub fn verify_slice_seq(events: &[Entry], start_hash: &Sha256Hash) -> bool {
 
 /// Create a vector of Ticks of length 'len' from 'start_hash' hash and 'num_hashes'.
 pub fn create_ticks(start_hash: &Sha256Hash, num_hashes: u64, len: usize) -> Vec<Entry> {
-    use itertools::unfold;
+    use std::iter;
-    let mut events = unfold(*start_hash, |state| {
+    let mut end_hash = *start_hash;
-        let event = next_tick(state, num_hashes);
+    iter::repeat(Event::Tick)
-        *state = event.end_hash;
+        .take(len)
-        return Some(event);
+        .map(|event| {
-    });
+            let entry = next_entry(&end_hash, num_hashes, event);
-    events.by_ref().take(len).collect()
+            end_hash = entry.end_hash;
+            entry
+        })
+        .collect()
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]