The article provides a detailed examination of how Bitcoin blocks are linked together in the blockchain, focusing on the specifics of block headers and the hashing process. It clarifies common misconceptions about the relationship between blocks and explains the importance of the Merkle tree root and proof of work in securing the blockchain.

Steinar H. Gunderson discusses modern perfect hashing techniques for mapping a predefined set of strings to integers, focusing on optimizing performance for small sets. He critiques existing methods, particularly the use of PEXT instructions, and shares a solution inspired by the chess community's approach to avoid collisions in string hashing. The article includes code examples demonstrating his methods for handling specific string lengths efficiently.

The article presents the rs-merkle-tree, a Merkle tree implementation in Rust that supports configurable storage backends and hash functions. It emphasizes features like fixed depth, optimized proof retrieval, and an easy-to-use interface for adding leaves and generating proofs. The repository provides examples for using different hash functions and storage options, along with benchmark results for performance analysis.