Basics
From Chainlink Community Wiki
Chainlink - The basics
The oracle problem?
What is the oracle problem?
Blockchains are inherently disconnected from the outside world.[1] The oracle problem is the challenge of connecting smart contracts to off-chain resources. This oracle problem exists for every blockchain network and smart contract platform.[2] The lack of connectivity between blockchains and off-chain systems is commonly referred to as the “oracle problem"[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.”[3] 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
LINK tokens are utility tokens used to pay Chainlink node operators for their oracle services (on-chain data aggregation and submission & off-chain computation services) and also for deposits (staking) placed by node operators as required by contract creators. 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.”[4] 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.