Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition

Transactions and messages

A transaction in Ethereum is a digitally signed data packet using a private key that contains the instructions that, when completed, either result in a message call or contract creation. Transactions can be divided into two types based on the output they produce:

• Message call transactions: This transaction simply produces a message call that is used to pass messages from one contract account to another.
• Contract creation transactions: As the name suggests, these transactions result in the creation of a new contract account. This means that when this transaction is executed successfully, it creates an account with the associated code.

Both of these transactions are composed of some standard fields, which are described ...