In today's world of digital currencies, TON (Telegram Open Network) tokens are famous for their unique data storage architecture. This article will delve into TON's data storage method to help readers better understand its operating principles and advantages.
What is a TON data unit?
In TON, all data is stored in "Cells". A cell is a data structure capable of storing up to 1023 bits of data (note, this is bits not bytes) and can reference up to 4 other cells. This design enables TON to manage and store information efficiently.
Cell structure: Cell data and references are stored separately, and circular references are prohibited. This means that no descendant cell of any cell can have the original cell as a reference. This design enables all cells to form a directed acyclic graph (DAG), thereby improving data organization and query efficiency.
cell type
Currently, there are five types of cells in TON, including four special cells. These special cells are:
Pruned Branch Cell
Library Reference Cell
Merkle Proof Cell
Merkle Update Cell
Each of these different types of cells has its own unique functions, adding flexibility and scalability to TON's overall architecture.
Optimized properties of cells
A cell is an optimized, opaque object designed for compact data storage. In particular, it is able to deduplicate data: if there are multiple equivalent sub-cells referenced in different branches, their contents are stored only once. Such a feature not only saves storage space, but also increases data access speed.
However, the "opacity" of cells means they cannot be modified or read directly. Therefore, TON also introduces two additional cell types:
Builder: A cell for partial construction that can quickly perform operations on appending bitstrings, integers, other cells, and their references.
Slice: Used to represent a "slice" of a partially parsed cell, or a value (sub-cell) extracted from a cell.
These features make TON more flexible and efficient in data management.
Data serialization to cells
In TON, any object (such as messages, message queues, blocks, entire blockchain state, contract code and data) will be serialized into cells. This process is described by a TL-B scheme, which is a formal description of how to serialize an object to a Builder, or how to parse an object of a given type from a Slice.
TL-B serializes cells similarly to how TL or ProtoBuf handles byte streams. The introduction of this technology enables TON to remain efficient and flexible when processing data.
Summarize
The data storage architecture of TON tokens takes cells as the core and achieves efficient data management and storage through carefully designed data structures and serialization processes. Whether it is cell type, optimization characteristics, or data serialization method, they all provide strong support for the operation of TON.
With the development of blockchain technology, these characteristics of TON will undoubtedly become an important cornerstone of its future development. For readers who want to have an in-depth understanding of blockchain technology and its applications, TON's data storage architecture is undoubtedly a direction worth studying.
Through the introduction of this article, I believe that readers will have a deeper understanding of the data storage architecture of TON tokens and will be able to better grasp the future development trend of blockchain technology. I hope there will be more research and discussion in the future, so that we can witness the growth and progress of TON together.