Among today's blockchain technologies, TON (The Open Network) has attracted widespread attention with its unique architecture and functions. This article will delve into smart contract addresses on the TON blockchain and explain how actors and smart contracts are synonymous concepts in TON.
Everything is a smart contract
In TON, smart contracts are built based on the Actor model. This means that every actor in TON can be considered a smart contract. Even your wallet is actually a combination of a simple actor and a smart contract. The main function of an actor is to process incoming messages, change its internal state, and generate corresponding outgoing messages. Therefore, every actor (i.e. smart contract) on the TON blockchain must have an address to be able to receive messages from other actors.
The structure of a smart contract address: On TON, a smart contract address usually consists of two main components:
Workchain ID (workchain_id): Represents the ID of the workchain, which is a signed 32-bit integer.
Account ID (account_id): Indicates the address of the account. Depending on the work chain, the number of digits may range from 64 to 512.
Later in this article, we will delve into the specific representation of these (workchain_id, account_id) pairs.
Work chain ID
As mentioned before, on the TON blockchain, up to 2^32 working chains can be created. Currently, there is only the main chain (workchain_id=-1) and a basic workchain (workchain_id=0) that runs occasionally. The addresses of both are 256 bits, so we can assume that the work chain ID is either 0 or -1, and the address within the work chain is exactly 256 bits.
Account ID: All account IDs on TON use 256-bit addresses and run on the main chain and basic working chain. The account ID (account_id) is defined as the hash function of the smart contract object (specifically SHA-256). Every smart contract running on the TON blockchain stores two main components:
Compiled code: The logic of the smart contract is compiled in the form of bytecode.
Initial state: The value of the contract when it is uploaded to the chain.
To accurately derive the address of a contract, the hash value corresponding to (initial code, initial state) needs to be calculated. The calculation formula for account ID is as follows:
account_id = hash(initial code, initial state)
As this article progresses, we will further explore the technical specifications and overview of TVM (TON Virtual Machine) and TL-B (TON Language Base) solutions.
State of the address: In TON, each address can be in the following possible states:
nonexist: Indicates that no transaction has been accepted yet.
Management of this state is critical to ensuring the security and reliability of the entire system.
Operation of smart contracts
The way smart contracts work in TON is relatively simple. When an actor receives a message, it processes it according to internal logic, possibly changing its state, and sending replies or further messages as needed. This design not only improves the efficiency of the system but also enhances its flexibility.
Message delivery: In TON, message delivery between smart contracts is achieved through their addresses. This enables smart contracts between different work chains to communicate with each other, thereby enabling more complex application scenarios. Since each smart contract has its own unique address, this lays the foundation for the scalability of the system.
in conclusion
As an innovative blockchain platform, TON's smart contract design and address system provide developers with powerful tools and flexibility. Through the introduction of the Actor model, TON not only simplifies the operation process of smart contracts, but also improves the overall performance of the system.
In the future, with the emergence of more work chains and smart contracts, TON's ecosystem will become more colorful. Both developers and users will benefit from the continued innovation and development of this platform.