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Glossary

Thomas edited this page Apr 13, 2018 · 8 revisions

Adapter

Core functionality offered by the node (see also, external adapter).

Assignment

V1 spec of a JobSpec which was used by the Ruby Node.

Bridge

Bridge is the technical term for an external adapter used within the node's API. When you add a "Bridge Type" to the node, you are adding a link to the external adapter.

Consuming Contract

A Smart Contract which uses the services of an oracle.

External Adapter

External adapters are what make Chainlink easily extensible, providing simple integration of custom computations and specialized APIs. A Chainlink node communicates with external adapters via a simple REST API.

Function Selector

A function selector is the first four bytes of the call data for a function call and specifies the function to be called.

Initiator

Starts the JobSpec.

Available initiators are:

  • runlog
  • cron
  • ethlog
  • runat
  • web

Job

This term is usually used as short-hand for a JobSpec.

JobRun

The run of a job's execution, tracks multiple TaskRuns.

JobSpec

The JobSpec is the definition for what initiates a job and tasks to perform.

Oracle

Entity which connects computations on blockchains with off-chain resources. Typically made up of two components: the Oracle Node (off-chain) and the Oracle Contract (on-chain).

Oracle Contract

The on-chain component of an Oracle. The Oracle Contract is the interface through which Consuming Contracts pass and receive data with off-chain resources.

Oracle Node

The off-chain component of an Oracle.

Run

The node executing on some specification is referred to as a run. A run can mean a JobRun or a TaskRun.

Task

This term is usually used as short-hand for a TaskSpec

TaskSpec

The TaskSpec is the definition for the individual task to be performed within the job pipeline.

TaskRun

The result of the individual task's execution.

A TaskRun may have the following statuses:

  • in_progress
  • pending_confirmations
  • pending_bridge
  • errored
  • completed