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Author here. I'm happy to answer any questions although this project was from 10+ years ago so I could be a little rusty. Over the years I've been trying to fi

Author here. I'm happy to answer any questions although this project was from 10+ years ago so I could be a little rusty. Over the years I've been trying to find better ways to do this kind of visualization but for other CS topics. Moving to video is the most realistic option but using something like After Effects takes A LOT of time and energy for long-form visualizations. It also doesn't produce a readable output file format that could be shared, diff'd, & tweaked. I spent some time on a project recently to build out an SVG-based video generation tool that can use a sidecar file for defining animations. It's still a work in progress but hopefully I can get it to a place where making this style of visualizations isn't so time intensive.

mgenglder 2y ago
This is wonderful. Can I ask how you created it? Stack used and sour e code? I'd love to create something like this to help visualize things I'm working with currently.
- benbjohnson 2y ago
  It's all done with d3 and JavaScript. The visualizations aren't deterministic so I ended up writing a shitty Raft implementation in JS. Overall it was a terrible approach because it was so time consuming but I made it work. You can find all the source code in this repo: https://github.com/benbjohnson/thesecretlivesofdata https://github.com/benbjohnson/thesecretlivesofdata
kfrzcode 2y ago
What are your thoughts on Dr. Leemon Baird's Hedera Hashgraph? https://www.swirlds.com/downloads/SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01.pdf https://www.swirlds.com/downloads/SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01.pdf
- benbjohnson 2y ago
  I haven't read that paper but it seems like it's fixing a different problem of Byzantine fault tolerance. Most consensus systems that are internal for an organization don't have the Byzantine issue so it simplifies the problem.
- thesz 2y ago
  "Suppose Alice has hashgraph A and Bob hash hashgraph B. These hashgraphs may be slightly different at any given moment, but they will always be consistent. Consistent means that if A and B both contain event x, then they will both contain exactly the same set of ancestors for x, and will both contain exactly the same set of edges between those ancestors." Consider UTXO-based events. There can be an event E1 that consumes UTXO1 and UTXO2 and event E2 that consumes UTXO2 and UTXO3. Hashgaphs that contain one of these events are consistent but their union is not. This can be used to perform some byzantine things, I can think of at least two of them: doublespend and degradation of service. This paper is a clear example of how to make a thing that has no obvious problems.
huntaub 2y ago
I just want you to know how much this visualization was appreciated. In my time working at AWS, I recommended this website to every one of our new hires to learn how distributed consensus works. Know that this has taught probably 50+ people. Thank you for what you’ve built.
- benbjohnson 2y ago
  Thanks so much for letting me know! It's always hard to tell when I put something out there if it just gets lost in the ether. I'm glad to hear it helped so many folks.

mgenglder 2y ago

This is wonderful. Can I ask how you created it? Stack used and sour e code? I'd love to create something like this to help visualize things I'm working with currently.

benbjohnson 2y ago
It's all done with d3 and JavaScript. The visualizations aren't deterministic so I ended up writing a shitty Raft implementation in JS. Overall it was a terrible approach because it was so time consuming but I made it work. You can find all the source code in this repo: https://github.com/benbjohnson/thesecretlivesofdata https://github.com/benbjohnson/thesecretlivesofdata

kfrzcode 2y ago

What are your thoughts on Dr. Leemon Baird's Hedera Hashgraph? https://www.swirlds.com/downloads/SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01.pdf https://www.swirlds.com/downloads/SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01.pdf

benbjohnson 2y ago
I haven't read that paper but it seems like it's fixing a different problem of Byzantine fault tolerance. Most consensus systems that are internal for an organization don't have the Byzantine issue so it simplifies the problem.
thesz 2y ago
"Suppose Alice has hashgraph A and Bob hash hashgraph B. These hashgraphs may be slightly different at any given moment, but they will always be consistent. Consistent means that if A and B both contain event x, then they will both contain exactly the same set of ancestors for x, and will both contain exactly the same set of edges between those ancestors." Consider UTXO-based events. There can be an event E1 that consumes UTXO1 and UTXO2 and event E2 that consumes UTXO2 and UTXO3. Hashgaphs that contain one of these events are consistent but their union is not. This can be used to perform some byzantine things, I can think of at least two of them: doublespend and degradation of service. This paper is a clear example of how to make a thing that has no obvious problems.

huntaub 2y ago

I just want you to know how much this visualization was appreciated. In my time working at AWS, I recommended this website to every one of our new hires to learn how distributed consensus works. Know that this has taught probably 50+ people. Thank you for what you’ve built.

benbjohnson 2y ago
Thanks so much for letting me know! It's always hard to tell when I put something out there if it just gets lost in the ether. I'm glad to hear it helped so many folks.