Basics
From Chainlink Community Wiki
Chainlink - The basics
The oracle problem?
What is the oracle problem? The oracle problem is the challenge of connecting smart contracts to off-chain resources due to the inherent security properties of the blockchain. This oracle problem exists for every blockchain network and smart contract platform.[1] For more details on the oracle problem click HERE.
Smart Contracts
What are smart contracts? Smart contracts are tamper-proof programs on blockchains that facilitate automatic transactions by using conditional software logic such as, “if x is true, then execute y.”[2] For an in depth look at smart contracts click HERE.
Oracles, nodes & DONs
What are oracles, nodes & DONs? For an in depth look at Oracles, nodes & DONs click HERE.
The Link token
For an in depth look at the Chainlink token click HERE.
Staking
What is staking within the Chainlink ecosystem? Smart contracts are tamper-proof programs on blockchains that facilitate automatic transactions by using conditional software logic such as, “if x is true, then execute y.”[3] For an in depth look at Chainlink staking click HERE.
Blockchain agnostic
https://blog.chain.link/chainlinks-blockchain-agnostic-design/
Chainlink specific contracts
- Market & data feed speific contracts. We've broken the history out into contract-based milestones.
- Direct Request / Runlog (DR)
- Flux Monitor (FM)
- Offchain Reporting (OCR)
- (what could be next)
- Keeper contracts.
- VRF contracts.