ssb-sort

ssb-sort

sort a collection of messages by their causal order.

A hash can be interpreted as a link, (except it is what link, not a where link. Like cinderella's glass slipper, a hash lets you confirm when you have found a thing, but doesn't clue you in to where that thing is)

An interesting thing about hashes as links, is that they always point backwards in time. That is because you can't know the hash of something you've seen it, or seen evidence of it. You could make up a random hash - but then the chance that something with that hash will actually turn up is basically impossible.

This means that hashes represent causation, in some sense,

api

var sort = require('ssb-sort')

all functions will throw if there is a duplicate message in the input.

sort (set)

sort a set by causal order, sorts first by causal order, but if two messages are concurrent, breaks the tie by their received, then self-stated timestamps, then order by keys.

sort.heads (set)

returns the most recent keys in the set (furtherest down the causation chain)

sort.roots (set)

returns the earliest keys in the set, since this operates on an arbitary set of messages, there may be more than one root. but usually you'll select a set by getting messages that point to a particular root node, in which case this will return one key.

License

MIT