Merge branch 'main' of github.com:input-output-hk/mastering-cardano

Author: brunjlar

chapters/chapter-00-preface.adoc

@@ -11,91 +11,91 @@ Congratulations on choosing _Mastering Cardano_ as your canonical reference to t
 
 Happy reading!
 
-=== Your Journey, Your Way
+=== Your journey, your way
 
 While _Mastering Cardano_ is structured to provide you with a comprehensive and logical progression through its topics, we understand that every learner has unique goals and prior knowledge. That's why we encourage you to explore our suggested reading paths as an alternative to a strictly linear approach.
 
 Think of these paths as curated journeys designed to help you quickly hone in on the information most relevant to your specific interests. You can choose to read _Mastering Cardano_ cover-to-cover, or you can jump directly to the chapters and sections that you are most interested in and that will accelerate your learning in a particular area.
 
-=== How to Use This Guide
+=== How to use this guide
 
 Before you dive into the chapters, take a moment to review the available reading paths. Each path will suggest a sequence of chapters and sections, along with a brief description of what you'll learn. You might find a path that perfectly aligns with your current goals, or perhaps one that helps you discover new areas of interest within Cardano.
 
 We believe that by offering these flexible reading options and supplemental resources, _Mastering Cardano_ will serve as an even more powerful and personalized tool on your journey to becoming a Cardano expert.
 
-==== Dive Deeper
+==== Dive deeper
 
 We believe in continuous learning. Throughout _Mastering Cardano_, you'll find curated reference links to essential research papers, insightful blog posts, and other valuable articles. These resources are carefully selected to provide you with opportunities to dive deeper into specific topics, understand the underlying theory, and stay current with the rapidly evolving Cardano landscape.
 
-==== Why Choose a Reading Path?
+==== Why choose a reading path?
 
 - Tailored learning: Focus on what matters most to you, whether it's smart contract development, staking, network architecture, or dApp creation.
 - Time efficiency: Get up to speed faster by prioritizing key concepts and practical applications for your specific needs.
 - Goal-oriented: Each path is designed with a clear objective in mind, helping you achieve your learning goals more effectively.
 - Flexible exploration: Even if you follow a specific path, you can branch out and explore other sections as required.
 
-=== Suggested Reading Paths
-- *Cardano fundamentals path* — Ideal for anyone new to blockchain or Cardano, this path provides a solid foundational understanding of the Cardano ecosystem, its core principles, and its journey.
-- *Smart contracts developer path* — For developers eager to build on Cardano, this path guides you through the essential concepts and practical skills needed to write, test, and deploy smart contracts using Aiken and Plutus.
-- *Cardano user path* — For non-technical readers and blockchain enthusiasts, this path helps you understand the Cardano ecosystem, manage assets, explore NFTs, and engage with the community without delving into code.
-- *Stake pool operator path* — This path is for readers whose goal is to learn how to run a node and start a stake pool, but are not necessarily interested in programming smart contracts or DApps.
-- *Cardano governance and future path* — For readers keen on Cardano's long-term vision, this path explores the principles of decentralized governance, the mechanisms for community decision-making, and the exciting future developments shaping the network.
+=== Suggested reading paths
+- _Cardano fundamentals path_ — ideal for anyone new to blockchain or Cardano, this path provides a solid foundational understanding of the Cardano ecosystem, its core principles, and its journey.
+- _Smart contracts developer path_ — for developers eager to build on Cardano, this path guides you through the essential concepts and practical skills needed to write, test, and deploy smart contracts using Aiken and Plutus.
+- _Cardano user path_ — for non-technical readers and blockchain enthusiasts, this path helps you understand the Cardano ecosystem, manage assets, explore NFTs, and engage with the community without delving into code.
+- _Stake pool operator path_ — for readers whose goal is to learn how to run a node and start a stake pool, but are not necessarily interested in programming smart contracts or DApps.
+- _Cardano governance and future path_ — for readers keen on Cardano's long-term vision, this path explores the principles of decentralized governance, the mechanisms for community decision-making, and the exciting future developments shaping the network.
 
-==== Cardano Fundamentals Path
+==== Cardano fundamentals path
 Explore the vision and challenges of blockchain, delve into the cryptography securing the network, and then get a robust introduction to Cardano's unique design, history, and innovative protocols.
 
-===== Suggested Chapters & Sections:
+===== Suggested chapters & sections:
 - Preface: How to Navigate, How to Contribute
 - Chapter 1: Introduction: What is the Vision of Blockchain?, Blockchain Generations (Cardano, Bitcoin, and Ethereum), Using Functional Programming and Formal Methods, Features and Benefits of Haskell
 - Chapter 2: Cryptography: The Role of Cryptography in Security and Privacy, How Cryptography Works in Cardano, What Users Need to Know
 - Chapter 3: Learn About Cardano: What is Cardano?, History of Cardano, Design Rationale, Cardano Community and Growth of the Ecosystem
 - Chapter 4: How Cardano Works: Overview of Cardano Network Protocols, Reaching Consensus using Proof of Stake, About the Ouroboros Protocol, UTXO and EUTXO Models, Components of the Cardano Ecosystem (Node, CLI, Wallet)
 
-==== Smart Contracts Developer Path
+==== Smart contracts developer path
 Understand Cardano's unique functional programming and EUTXO model, then dive directly into the specifics of writing smart contracts and decentralized applications.
 
-===== Suggested Chapters & Sections:
+===== Suggested chapters & sections:
 - Preface: How to Navigate, How to Contribute
 - Chapter 1: Introduction: Using Functional Programming and Formal Methods, Features and Benefits of Haskell
 - Chapter 4: How Cardano Works: UTXO and EUTXO Models, Multi-assets, Native Tokens
-- Chapter 8: Writing Smart Contracts: Smart contract programming languages, Marlowe Smart Contracts, Plutus Smart Contracts, Smart Contract Security and Best Practices
+- Chapter 8: Writing Smart Contracts: Smart contract programming languages, Marlowe Smart Contracts, Plutus Smart Contracts, Smart Contract Security
 - Chapter 9: Decentralized Applications: Overview of Decentralized Applications, Onchain vs Off Chain Code
 
-==== Cardano User Path
+==== Cardano user path
 Learn the foundational blockchain concepts, then discover how to interact with the network using wallets, manage your digital assets, and understand native tokens and NFTs.
 
-===== Suggested Chapters & Sections:
+===== Suggested chapters & sections:
 - Preface: How to Navigate, How to Contribute
 - Chapter 1: Introduction: Overview of a Blockchain Network, Blockchain Generations (Cardano, Bitcoin, and Ethereum)
 - Chapter 3: Learn About Cardano: What is Cardano?, Cardano Community and Growth of the Ecosystem, IO Education
 - Chapter 4: How Cardano Works: UTXO and EUTXO Models, Multi-assets, Native Tokens (fungible and non-fungible)
 - Chapter 6: Digital Cardano Wallets: Fundamentals of Wallets, Wallets in the Cardano Ecosystem, Setting Up a Cardano Light Wallet, Common operations in a Cardano Wallet (Sending and receiving ada, Staking ada)
 
-==== Stake Pool Operators Path
+==== Stake pool operators path
 Begin by understanding the core components of the Cardano network, delve into how consensus is reached and incentives work, and then focus on the specifics of setting up and operating a stake pool.
 
-===== Suggested Chapters & Sections:
+===== Suggested chapters & sections:
 - Preface: How to Navigate, How to Contribute
 - Chapter 4: How Cardano Works: Overview of Cardano Network Protocols, Reaching Consensus using proof of stake, About the Ouroboros Protocol, Incentives in Cardano, Cardano Node and system layers (Introduction to the Cardano node, Cardano Node Layers), Components of the Cardano Ecosystem (Node, CLI, Db sync)
 - Chapter 6: Wallets in the Cardano Ecosystem: Fundamentals of Wallets (Public and private keys: What they are and how they work), Common operations in a Cardano Wallet (Staking ada: How it works and its benefits)
 - Chapter 7: Stake Pools and Stake Pool Operations: Introduction, What is a Stake Pool?, SPO Requirements, Leadership Selection, Slot Conflict, Cardano CLI, Node Operations
 
-==== Cardano Governance & Future Path
+==== Cardano governance & future path
 Understand how Cardano's governance model operates, explore key initiatives like Project Catalyst and CIPs, and look ahead to future advancements and the Cardano 2.0 vision.
 
-===== Suggested Chapters & Sections:
+===== Suggested chapters & sections:
 - Preface: How to Navigate, How to Contribute
 - Chapter 5: Governance
 - Chapter 10: Looking Forward: Mithril, Hydra
 
-=== Join the Community: Contribute to Mastering Cardano
+=== Join the community: cntribute to Mastering Cardano
 _Mastering Cardano_ is more than just a book; it's intended to be a community-driven resource that grows and improves with the collective knowledge of the Cardano ecosystem. The world of blockchain is dynamic, and we believe the best way to keep this resource current, accurate, and truly comprehensive is through your valuable contributions.
 
 We encourage you to become an active participant in shaping the future editions of this book. Whether you spot a typo, have a clearer explanation for a complex concept, discover an outdated reference, or identify an area where more depth is needed, your input is incredibly valuable. We kindly ask that you first spend time navigating the book and its content and getting to know its structure and sections, so that your feedback is most valuable.
 
 ==== How can you contribute?
 _Mastering Cardano_ is an evolving community resource which will improve with contributions and corrections from the Cardano community. Please raise a pull request in our https://github.com/input-output-hk/mastering-cardano[Mastering Cardano repository] with your suggested improvements.
 
-- Suggest Enhancements: Have an idea for a new section, a better example, or a more efficient way to explain something? Share it!
-- Propose Updates: As Cardano evolves, so too should this book. Help us keep the content fresh and relevant.
-- Report Issues: Found a bug, a broken link, or a typo? Let us know!
+- Suggest enhancements — have an idea for a new section, a better example, or a more efficient way to explain something? Share it!
+- Propose updates — as Cardano evolves, so too should this book. Help us keep the content fresh and relevant.
+- Report issues — found an issue, broken link, or typo? Let us know!

chapters/chapter-02-cryptography.adoc

@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ Hashing functions are fundamental to blockchains. Some examples of where hashing
 
 . *Address derivation* -- Hashing algorithms are often used in blockchains as a means of deriving wallet addresses--e.g., as discussed in Section <<create-wallet>>.
 
-. *Merkleization(((merkle)))* allows for large collections of data items to be compacted into a smaller structure i.e., a merkle tree, and still be able to prove that a particular data item is represented within the merkle tree without having to store the full data items. Merkleization is discussed later in the <<marlowe-security>> section.
+. *Merkleization(((merkle)))* allows for large collections of data items to be compacted into a smaller structure i.e., a merkle tree, and still be able to prove that a particular data item is represented within the merkle tree without having to store the full data items. Merkleization is discussed later in the <<chapter8-marlowe-security>> section.
 
 . *Content-Addressed Storage(((content-addressed storage)))* -- When other information or files are required to be referenced (for example from a smart contract) it is often useful to refer to the specific file (or information) using Content-Addressed Storage which refers to such information/files using a hash of their content. By doing so, it is immediately possible to determine whether the contents have been changed, since the reference to find the information/file is a hash that should match the computed hash of the content--which can be done at any point. Furthermore, such a referencing scheme allows for deduplication of information, e.g., if the same image data is referred to twice, only one version of the file needs to be stored since both references will be computed to be the same hash.