2014.07.30 dogecoin核心开发访谈

shiyi18

DOGECOIN CORE DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW
TRISTAN WINTERSJUL 30, 2014
Op-ed - Dogecoin Core Development Interview
Dogecoin, born in jest, is now serious business. A major payment processor already supports Dogecoin payments. This has opened up the coin to a huge selection of international merchants.

One such merchant is Hustler Magazine, which recently confirmed it would start accepting payments in Dogecoin.

Dogecoin is also being embraced by new exchanges, including those in the lucrative Chinese market.

Most importantly, the community seems as vibrant and passionate as ever. This is important. However, it matters little if there is no one maintaining the protocol and ensuring both the integrity and security of the network.

Fortunately for Dogecoin the core development team is equally as passionate. They are increasingly becoming recognised as one of the most active and productive core development teams in the space.

All eyes are on Dogecoin core development at the moment. Many thought leaders have directly challenged the ability of the coin to survive. Most notably, Litecoin creator ‘Coblee’ said Dogecoin was never meant to last. Also, Tim Swanson has been very analytical and critical of the economic model Dogecoin pursued and its implications for network strength and integrity.


We decided to give the Dogecoin core developers an opportunity to bite back (pun intended). We caught up with Dogecoin’s lead developer ‘langerhans’, to talk about the direction of this successful young coin.

1. What is your position in Dogecoin core development? How did you get into that position?

My position is lead developer. Basically this means I am responsible for advancing the development of the Dogecoin network and the Dogecoin Core reference client.

Doing that I try to keep a balance between the management part of it and actually working on it myself.

Lots of work is done by the team I am part of, for which I’m really thankful. The role was appointed to me already a few months ago by the founders of the coin. We got to know each other through reddit where I once pointed out a needed change for the client. From there I started working on it more and eventually I was made lead developer.

2. What is your training, experience and background?

I mainly work with Android, this is what caught my interest early on and is also what I do for a living. I did programming before as hobby and my education was mostly focused on CS. My experience with cryptocurrencies actually mainly comes from my work with Dogecoin, which I started by porting the Android wallet. I learned a lot while working on several Dogecoin related projects.

3. How many active contributors are there to the core Dogecoin code?


In the core development team, including me, we have currently four people from which three are the most active at this point of time. There is also the so called extended development team consisting of roughly 110 people. Not all of them contribute to the core client, but many are contributing either in code or in knowledge and advice.

4. What do you enjoy most about your work on Dogecoin core development?

If we are talking about the Dogecoin Core client, then it is the learning. As I said, I gained a lot of experience not only in programming, but also in managing the surrounding tasks of such an open source project – for example, managing the releases and the repository.

If we extend it a bit further I also enjoy the community very much. It was what got me started with it and it is what keeps me going. I got to meet many nice people and found new friends which I greatly enjoy.

5. Dogecoin started life in jest, but it now has significant momentum behind it. With the rapid expansion of the community, brand and coin, also the hope, real investment and sunk costs, are you feeling the pressure?

Well, there is pressure, not only by service providers, but also the community. They all depend on a stable platform for their currency and their services. This is what we are trying to build and maintain and I think we did a good job with that so far.

Our Core client is the most current one in terms of adoption of fixes from the Bitcoin codebase and we are overall very active developers. So yes, I can see the pressure, but it’s not affecting me in a bad way.


6. The Dogecoin community is passionate and active. After all the debate is done, who ultimately decides if any implementations or amendments to the coin are done? Who has the keys, so to speak?

We of course do continuously check what the community thinks. We then narrow it down through the development community to the core devs and ultimately it will be me as lead developer who “turns the key”. That is also the reason why this seems to be such a lengthy process. [There are] many options to be considered and analyzed.

7. Do you consider Dogecoin’s recent declining hashrate a threat to the longevity of the coin? What proposals are currently on the table, if any, for addressing this issue? What, if any, is the time frame for implementing a solution?

A low hashrate is a threat for every Proof of Work based coin that doesn’t implement special measures to mitigate possible attacks.

Dogecoin was brought to the market with an “expiration date” as the block reward schedule was made for about one year. That is basically the reason why we were already looking for solutions for quite some time.

The problem is that many of the solutions are either still highly theoretical or are deemed to be in an “Alpha” or “Beta” state. Some have technological issues, some have “political” issues.

After the venture of Litecoin’s creator into the Dogecoin subreddit, it seems that the implementation of the so called auxiliary proof of work is the most discussed one right now. While my recent reddit post about this may have seemingly implied differently, I’m not against this concept from the technical perspective.

Yet, we still want to make sure that if this is considered to be the option to go with, there are no oversights of any concerns with it.


8. Do you consider a 51 attack an imminent threat? Is securing the network a primary concern of your team?

It is a threat yes, but I don’t know the timescale in which it becomes feasible for an attack. The whole discussion currently happening is about the security of the coin. So yes, this is a primary, if not the primary concern.

9. Will Dogecoin merge mine with Litecoin?

I think the question is wrongly worded. The implementation of auxiliary proof of work does not mean “merging” the two coins.

It just happens that Litecoin is the coin with the highest hashrate on the scrypt algorithm. That means the Dogecoin network can accept blocks coming from their network, while securing it that way. Therefore I think the phrase “merged mining” is to be taken with a grain of salt.

Implementing AuxPoW is still on the table, yes.

The decision will be made sooner rather than later. Then it will be about finding the time to implement the chosen solution.

10. Where do you see Dogecoin in 1 year and 5 years?

Alive & kickin’ just like it did the last months. In one year I hope to see a stable currency that is is highly accepted and used by merchants and I still see the awesome community around it.

Five years is really hard to look forward to, as this is a whole lot of time in the cryptocurrency business. Every guess I’d take would be exactly that, just guessing. I do believe in Dogecoin and I hope to see it still around until then, maybe established as the currency of the internet which it aimed to become.





dogecoin核心开发访谈
Tristan Winters2014年7月30日
专栏文章--Dogecoin核心开发访谈
诞生于玩笑中的Dogecoin，现在是严肃的业务。一个主要的支付处理器已经支持Dogecoin支付。这使得该币向大量的国际商户开放。

其中一个商家是Hustler杂志，它最近确认它将开始接受Dogecoin的支付。

狗币也被新的交易所接受，包括那些在利润丰厚的中国市场的交易所。

最重要的是，这个社区似乎和以前一样充满活力和激情。这很重要。然而，如果没有人维护协议并确保网络的完整性和安全性，这就不重要了。

幸运的是，Dogecoin的核心开发团队也同样充满激情。他们正逐渐被认为是该领域最活跃和最有成效的核心开发团队之一。

目前，所有的目光都集中在Dogecoin核心开发上。许多思想领袖已经直接挑战了该币的生存能力。最值得注意的是，Litecoin的创造者'Coblee'说，Dogecoin注定不会持久。另外，Tim Swanson对Dogecoin追求的经济模式及其对网络强度和完整性的影响进行了很好的分析和批评。


我们决定给Dogecoin的核心开发者一个反击的机会（双关语意）。我们采访了Dogecoin的首席开发者 "langerhans"，谈论了这个成功的年轻币的发展方向。

1. 你在Dogecoin核心开发中的位置是什么？你是如何进入这个位置的？

我的职位是首席开发者。基本上这意味着我负责推进Dogecoin网络和Dogecoin核心参考客户端的开发。

做到这一点，我试图在管理部分和自己实际工作之间保持平衡。

很多工作都是由我所在的团队完成的，对此我真的很感激。这个角色是几个月前由硬币的创始人指定给我的。我们是通过reddit认识的，在那里我曾经为客户指出了一个需要的改变。从那以后，我开始更多的工作，最终我被任命为首席开发者。

2. 你的培训、经验和背景是什么？

我主要从事安卓方面的工作，这是我早期的兴趣所在，也是我的职业。我以前做编程是出于爱好，我的教育主要集中在CS方面。我对加密货币的经验实际上主要来自于我对Dogecoin的工作，我从移植Android钱包开始。在从事几个与Dogecoin相关的项目时，我学到了很多。

3. 3.Dogecoin的核心代码有多少个活跃的贡献者？


在核心开发团队中，包括我在内，我们目前有四个人，其中三个是目前最活跃的。还有一个所谓的扩展开发团队，大约由110人组成。不是所有的人都对核心客户端做出贡献，但许多人在代码或知识和建议方面做出贡献。

4. 在Dogecoin核心开发的工作中，你最喜欢什么？

如果我们谈论的是Dogecoin核心客户端，那么就是学习。正如我所说，我不仅在编程方面获得了很多经验，而且在管理这样一个开源项目的周边任务方面也获得了很多经验--例如，管理发布和存储库。

如果我们再延伸一下，我也非常喜欢这个社区。是它让我开始接触它，也是它让我一直坚持下去。我认识了很多好心人，找到了新的朋友，我非常喜欢。

5. Dogecoin是在开玩笑中开始的，但现在它背后有很大的动力。随着社区、品牌和硬币的迅速扩张，也随着希望、实际投资和沉没成本的增加，你是否感到压力？

嗯，有压力，不仅是服务提供商，而且是社区。他们都依赖一个稳定的平台来提供他们的货币和服务。这是我们正在努力建立和维护的，我认为到目前为止我们在这方面做得很好。

在采用比特币代码库的修复方面，我们的核心客户端是最新的一个，而且我们总体上是非常活跃的开发者。所以，是的，我可以看到压力，但它对我的影响并不坏。


6. 狗币社区是充满激情和活跃的。在所有的辩论结束后，谁最终决定是否对该币进行任何实施或修正？可以说，谁掌握着钥匙？

我们当然会不断检查社区的想法。然后我们通过开发社区将其缩小到核心开发人员，最终将由我作为首席开发人员 "转动钥匙"。这也是为什么这似乎是一个如此漫长的过程的原因。[有]许多选项需要考虑和分析。

7. 你认为Dogecoin最近的hashrate下降是对该币寿命的威胁吗？如果有的话，目前有什么提案可以解决这个问题？如果有的话，实施解决方案的时间框架是什么？

对于每一个基于工作证明的硬币，如果不采取特别措施来减轻可能的攻击，那么低的哈希率就是一种威胁。

Dogecoin被带到市场上的时候有一个 "到期日"，因为区块奖励的时间表是一年左右。这基本上是我们在相当长的一段时间内已经在寻找解决方案的原因。

问题是，许多解决方案要么仍然是高度理论化的，要么被认为是处于 "Alpha "或 "Beta "状态。一些有技术问题，一些有 "政治 "问题。

在Litecoin的创造者冒险进入Dogecoin subreddit之后，所谓的辅助工作证明的实现似乎是目前讨论最多的一个。虽然我最近在reddit上发表的关于这个问题的帖子可能看起来有不同的暗示，但从技术角度来看，我并不反对这个概念。

然而，我们仍然要确保，如果这被认为是要采用的方案，那么就不会有任何疏忽，不会有任何顾虑。


8. 你认为51攻击是一个迫在眉睫的威胁吗？确保网络安全是你们团队的首要关切吗？

是的，它是一种威胁，但我不知道它成为可行的攻击的时间尺度。目前发生的整个讨论是关于硬币的安全。所以是的，这是一个主要问题，如果不是主要问题的话。

9. Dogecoin会与Litecoin合并开采吗？

我认为这个问题的措辞是错误的。辅助工作证明的实施并不意味着 "合并 "两个币。

恰好Litecoin是scrypt算法上拥有最高hashrate的币种。这意味着Dogecoin网络可以接受来自他们网络的区块，同时以这种方式确保其安全性。因此，我认为 "合并挖矿 "这个短语要慎重对待。

实施AuxPoW仍在讨论中，是的。

这个决定将很快做出，而不是以后。然后将是寻找时间来实施所选择的解决方案。

10. 你认为1年和5年后的Dogecoin是什么样子？

活着，就像过去几个月那样。在一年内，我希望看到一个稳定的货币，被商家高度接受和使用，我仍然看到围绕着它的强大社区。

五年的时间真的很难期待，因为在加密货币业务中这是一大堆时间。我的每一个猜测都将是准确的，只是猜测。我相信Dogecoin，我希望看到它在那之前仍然存在，也许会被确立为互联网的货币，它的目标是成为互联网的货币。