Index
- Lesson 1: CryptoZombies
- Chapter 2 Contracts
- Chapter 3: State Variables & Integers
- Chapter 4: Math Operations
- Chapter 5: Structs
- Chapter 6: Arrays
- Chapter 7: Function Declarations
- Chapter 8: Working With Structs and Arrays
- Chapter 9: Private / Public Functions
- Chapter 10: More on Functions
- Chapter 11: Keccak256 and Typecasting
- Chapter 12: Putting It Together
- Chapter 13: Events
- Chapter 14: Web3.js
- Lesson 2: Zombies Attack Their Victims
- Chapter 2: Mappings and Addresses
- Chapter 3: Msg.sender
- Chapter 4: Require
- Chapter 5: Inheritance
- Chapter 6: Import
- Chapter 7: Storage vs Memory
- Chapter 8: Zombie DNA
- Chapter 9: More on Function Visibility
- Chapter 10: What Do Zombies Eat?
- Chapter 11: Using an Interface
- Chapter 12: Handling Multiple Return Values
- Chapter 13: Bonus: Kitty Genes
- Chapter 14: Wrapping It Up
- Lesson 3: Advanced Solidity Concepts
- Chapter 2: Ownable Contracts
- Chapter 3: onlyOwner Function Modifier
- Chapter 4: Gas
- Chapter 5: Time Units
- Chapter 6: Zombie Cooldowns
- Chapter 7: Public Functions & Security
- Chapter 8: More on Function Modifiers
- Chapter 9: Zombie Modifiers
- Chapter 10: Saving Gas With 'View' Functions
- Chapter 11: Storage is Expensive
- Chapter 12: For Loops
- Chapter 13: Wrapping It Up
- Lesson 4: Zombie Battle System
- Chapter 1: Payable
- Chapter 2: Withdraws
- Chapter 3: Zombie Battles
- Chapter 4: Random Numbers
- Chapter 5: Zombie Fightin'
- Chapter 6: Refactoring Common Logic
- Chapter 7: More Refactoring
- Chapter 8: Back to Attack!
- Chapter 9: Zombie Wins and Losses
- Chapter 10: Zombie Victory 😄
- Chapter 11: Zombie Loss 😞
- Lesson 5: ERC721 & Crypto-Collectibles
- Chapter 1: Tokens on Ethereum
- Chapter 2: ERC721 Standard, Multiple Inheritance
- Chapter 3: balanceOf & ownerOf
- Chapter 4: Refactoring
- Chapter 5: ERC721: Transfer Logic
- Chapter 6: ERC721: Transfer Cont'd
- Chapter 7: ERC721: Approve
- Chapter 8: ERC721: Approve
- Chapter 9: Preventing Overflows
- Chapter 10: SafeMath Part 2
- Chapter 11: SafeMath Part 3
- Chapter 12: SafeMath Part 4
- Chapter 13: Comments
- Chapter 14: Wrapping It Up
- App Front-ends & Web3.js
- Chapter 1: Intro to Web3.js
- Chapter 2: Web3 Providers
- Chapter 3: Talking to Contracts
- Chapter 4: Calling Contract Functions
- Chapter 5: Metamask & Accounts
- Chapter 6: Displaying our Zombie Army
- Chapter 7: Sending Transactions
- Chapter 8: Calling Payable Functions
- Chapter 9: Subscribing to Events
- Chapter 10: Wrapping It Up
Chapter 11: Keccak256 and Typecasting
Chapter 11: Keccak256 and Typecasting
We want our
_generateRandomDna
function to return a (semi) random uint
. How can we accomplish this?Ethereum has the hash function
keccak256
built in, which is a version of SHA3. A hash function basically maps an input into a random 256-bit hexidecimal number. A slight change in the input will cause a large change in the hash.It's useful for many purposes in Ethereum, but for right now we're just going to use it for pseudo-random number generation.
Also important,
keccak256
expects a single parameter of type bytes
. This means that we have to "pack" any parameters before calling keccak256
:Example:
//6e91ec6b618bb462a4a6ee5aa2cb0e9cf30f7a052bb467b0ba58b8748c00d2e5
keccak256(abi.encodePacked("aaaab"));
//b1f078126895a1424524de5321b339ab00408010b7cf0e6ed451514981e58aa9
keccak256(abi.encodePacked("aaaac"));
keccak256(abi.encodePacked("aaaab"));
//b1f078126895a1424524de5321b339ab00408010b7cf0e6ed451514981e58aa9
keccak256(abi.encodePacked("aaaac"));
As you can see, the returned values are totally different despite only a 1 character change in the input.Note: Secure random-number generation in blockchain is a very difficult problem. Our method here is insecure, but since security isn't top priority for our Zombie DNA, it will be good enough for our purposes.
Typecasting
Sometimes you need to convert between data types. Take the following example:
uint8 a = 5;
uint b = 6;
// throws an error because a * b returns a uint, not uint8:
uint8 c = a * b;
// we have to typecast b as a uint8 to make it work:
uint8 c = a * uint8(b);
uint b = 6;
// throws an error because a * b returns a uint, not uint8:
uint8 c = a * b;
// we have to typecast b as a uint8 to make it work:
uint8 c = a * uint8(b);
In the above, a * b
returns a uint
, but we were trying to store it as a uint8
, which could cause potential problems. By casting it as a uint8
, it works and the compiler won't throw an error.Put it to the test
Let's fill in the body of our
_generateRandomDna
function! Here's what it should do:1. The first line of code should take the
keccak256
hash of abi.encodePacked(_str)
to generate a pseudo-random hexidecimal, typecast it as a uint
, and finally store the result in a uint
called rand
.2. We want our DNA to only be 16 digits long (remember our
dnaModulus
?). So the second line of code should return
the above value modulus (%
) dnaModulus
.pragma solidity ^0.4.25;
contract ZombieFactory {
uint dnaDigits = 16;
uint dnaModulus = 10 ** dnaDigits;
struct Zombie {
string name;
uint dna;
}
Zombie[] public zombies;
function _createZombie(string _name, uint _dna) private {
zombies.push(Zombie(_name, _dna));
}
function _generateRandomDna(string _str) private view returns (uint) {
uint rand = uint(keccak256(abi.encodePacked(_str)));
return rand % dnaModulus;
}
}
contract ZombieFactory {
uint dnaDigits = 16;
uint dnaModulus = 10 ** dnaDigits;
struct Zombie {
string name;
uint dna;
}
Zombie[] public zombies;
function _createZombie(string _name, uint _dna) private {
zombies.push(Zombie(_name, _dna));
}
function _generateRandomDna(string _str) private view returns (uint) {
uint rand = uint(keccak256(abi.encodePacked(_str)));
return rand % dnaModulus;
}
}