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Progress has consistently advanced over the past six weeks as we near the release of Metropolis. Throughout a succession of <\/span>core development meetings<\/span><\/a> during the preceding months, we have outlined and finalized <\/span>the EIPs<\/span><\/a> for Metropolis, and amended the Yellow Paper accordingly. Metropolis has now been divided into two sequential forks, named \u201cByzantium\u201d and \u201cConstantinople\u201d. EIPs for Byzantium (Metropolis part one) are essentially concluded, and the final outstanding tasks pertain to developing tests and ensuring that all clients pass these tests.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Ethereum network continues to witness unprecedented levels in <\/span>transaction activity<\/span><\/a>, and the network has maintained stability throughout this time with <\/span>consistently low uncle rates<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Research<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Geth<\/b> Implemented the subsequent:<\/span><\/p>\n ENS<\/b> During the weekend of August 11-13 in London, the inaugural community-led ENS workshop took place, where members of the broader community, including several wallet representatives, individuals engaged in Ethereum projects, and other ENS stakeholders, discussed the current status and future prospects of ENS. A summary post can be found <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>, but here are some key takeaways:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Web3.js<\/b> In the previous fortnight, the beta version of web3.js was launched and rapidly adopted by the community. Several packages have commenced the integration of the updated version within their libraries. Since the debut of the first beta, several issues have been identified and rectified while enhancements have been introduced, resulting in the current state of beta.18.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When web3.js 1.0 is fully prepared for public use, a dedicated blog entry will unveil its innovative features. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To experiment with it yourself, you can either clone the 1.0 branch<\/a>\u00a0or install it through npm install web3@1.0.0-beta.18<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Feel free to report issues and propose enhancements to the GitHub issues.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Light Client<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n C++<\/b> Solidity<\/b> We have incorporated support for <\/span>\u201cexperimental\u201d features<\/span><\/a> that can be activated using a \u201cpragma\u201d directive in the source code. One of these features is the <\/span>new ABI encoder<\/span><\/a>, which can handle arbitrarily nested arrays! Another upcoming experimental feature is the <\/span>automated verification<\/span><\/a> of assertions and overflow conditions via an SMT solver. We also resolved <\/span>two<\/span><\/a> issues<\/span><\/a> in the code generator. Additionally, we have executed numerous smaller adjustments that <\/span>enhance<\/span><\/a> error<\/span><\/a> messages<\/span><\/a>, introduced <\/span>new<\/span><\/a> warnings<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>enhanced<\/span><\/a> security<\/span><\/a>. Finally, work has commenced on implementing <\/span>view<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>pure<\/span><\/i> function specifiers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remix<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Support for Metropolis has been integrated into EVMJIT; all tests were successfully completed. Furthermore, EVM-C has been upgraded to accommodate new functionalities for Metropolis, such as REVERT support and return buffers. The EVM-C interface is gradually advancing, but only VM trace support remains to deem it fully operational.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Swarm<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the swarm testnet transitions to new infrastructure, the team is diligently developing new features for our POC3 roadmap set for after Metropolis. The team has dedicated the last nine months to creating a devp2p network simulation and testing framework, and the module is now poised for integration with go-ethereum. PSS (bzz whispered), our innovative node-to-node communication protocol, now fully integrates Whisper\u2019s encryption module and facilitates remote peer sessions using Diffie-Hellman key exchange for UDP-like protocols. The most significant element of our upcoming release is a complete overhaul of the swarm network layer. In this quest, the connectivity (Kademlia overlay topology) and discovery (topology bootstrapping) components are ready for integration.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The lone missing component for a proper Dropbox backend (to complement FUSE and ENS) is<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n chunk-level encryption for confidentiality. We developed a sophisticated solution: the Keccak-Feistel block cipher, which will be incorporated into POC3.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The team has begun work on the third orange paper detailing generalized swap, swear, and swindle games (courtroom contract suite) to stimulate decentralized services by offering scalable payment, incentivization, and service assurances. Video recordings from the Berlin Swarm Summit in June can be found on the summit site at swarm <\/span><\/a>http:\/\/swarm-gateways.net\/bzz:\/summit2017.ethersphere.eth\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whisper<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ewasm<\/b> Ewasm itself is nearing completion in its current iteration. Development work on <\/span>Hera<\/span><\/a>, an Ewasm implementation compatible with the VM API utilized in Ethereum C++, has resumed as EVM-C interfaces have matured considerably.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n EthereumJS<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Challenges with processing large numbers<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>specific<\/span><\/a> edge<\/span><\/a> cases<\/span><\/a> have been detected and resolved. Implementation of <\/span>Byzantium modifications<\/span><\/a> is in progress. The most demanding area involves elliptic curve pairing precompiles. To accommodate these precompiles, we will utilize <\/span>Zcash\u2019s Rust implementation translated to asm.js<\/span><\/a>. Additional efforts are being made to support the <\/span>new tracing format<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>enhance the VM<\/span><\/a> for performance<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n EthereumJ<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A duo of developers has commenced efforts to update EthereumJ for compatibility with Byzantium ahead of the initial Metropolis<\/span> hard fork.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pyethereum<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Numerous bug corrections have been implemented alongside updates to related libraries (e.g., <\/span>rlp.hex_decode<\/span> and <\/span>rlp.hex_encode<\/span> in pyrlp). Metropolis EIPs are effectively integrated, and compliance with Byzantium state and block tests continues to enhance.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Py-EVM<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Py-EVM is a<\/span> novel<\/span> implementation of the EVM crafted in Python. The library draws significant influence from the existing Pyethereum library, with the primary distinction being<\/span> a more modular design.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Recent developments include:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Web3.py<\/b>\n
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\nEVMJIT<\/b>
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