[Ethereum] ny software apart from Geth and Mist that offers the Javascript console? I want to use the console but I don’t want to do all that syncing

consoleipcjson-rpc

Is there any software apart from Geth and Mist that offers the Javascript console? I want to use the console but I don't want to do all that syncing.

Parity does not have a console as far as I know and neither does MetaMask. Any other software out there?

Best Answer

Try geth --light console, available since v1.5.2, but listed under "Experimental Features". Syncs in minutes if not seconds.

Update - The initial sync took 11 minutes. Subsequently, syncing 7 hours worth of blocks took 8 seconds.

I'll document some light client stats below.

Here are some stats (the current block is 2972534:

Iota:geth user$ geth --light console
...
 I0111 08:34:43.034258 eth/downloader/downloader.go:326] Block synchronisation started
I0111 08:34:48.181285 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in    2.083s. #2609343 [20a7f505… / f422ad5d…]
...
0111 08:37:30.529558 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 384 headers in  68.146ms. #2695167 [eeb0e8b4… / b3e90f82…]
I0111 08:37:30.750613 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in  36.462ms. #2695359 [f19dec17… / 2d39932d…]
...
I0111 08:42:07.574887 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 768 headers in 145.734ms. #2854143 [3878698c… / a6998900…]
I0111 08:42:07.643398 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in  57.545ms. #2854335 [6a726c3c… / 96647a62…]
...
I0111 08:43:32.513446 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 384 headers in  70.834ms. #2900991 [db81a3ae… / 2da617ae…]
I0111 08:43:34.986411 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1344 headers in 295.133ms. #2902335 [49e9082a… / a59aa59f…]
...
I0111 08:45:47.420502 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 143 headers in 240.806ms. #2972558 [ab60d4f7… / 86202d19…]
I0111 08:45:52.135652 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.174ms. #2972559 [0a53cdc5… / 0a53cdc5…]
I0111 08:45:58.738955 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.570ms. #2972560 [1a98b864… / 1a98b864…]

Checking the amount of disk space taken:

Iota:geth user$ pwd
/Users/user/Library/Ethereum/geth
Iota:geth user$ ls -al
total 0
drwx------      5 user staff      170 11 Jan 08:34 .
drwxr-xr-x     10 user staff      340 11 Jan 08:46 ..
-rw-r--r--      1 user staff        0 19 Nov 00:30 LOCK
drwxr-xr-x  61204 user staff  2080936 11 Jan 08:28 chaindata
drwxr-xr-x     69 user staff     2346 11 Jan 08:45 lightchaindata
Iota:geth user$ du -hs *
  0B      LOCK
109G      chaindata
139M  lightchaindata

Checking a random account 0x5d03a3e0ab0fd3b00f1c3654b0765d923960c464 balance which is currently 4.03604217 ETH from EtherScan.

Iota:geth user$ geth --light console
...
> eth.syncing
{
  currentBlock: 2972561,
  highestBlock: 2972575,
  knownStates: 0,
  pulledStates: 0,
  startingBlock: 2972561
}
I0111 08:50:26.838756 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  92.695µs. #2972578 [0da2ff52… / 0da2ff52…]
> web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance("0x5d03a3e0ab0fd3b00f1c3654b0765d923960c464"), "ether")
4.03604217

Checking the retrieval of The DAO events using the code from How do I retrieve the Voted events from The DAO, but only for 10 blocks, it took 12 seconds:

I0111 08:59:06.052210 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  73.395µs. #2972619 [952243d6… / 952243d6…]
> var theDAOInterfaceABI = [{ "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "proposals", "outputs": [{ "name": "recipient", "type": "address" }, { "name": "amount", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "description", "type": "string" }, { "name": "votingDeadline", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "open", "type": "bool" }, { "name": "proposalPassed", "type": "bool" }, { "name": "proposalHash", "type": "bytes32" }, { "name": "proposalDeposit", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "newCurator", "type": "bool" }, { "name": "yea", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "nay", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "creator", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "rewardAccount", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "daoCreator", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_transactionData", "type": "bytes" }], "name": "executeProposal", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [], "name": "unblockMe", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "totalRewardToken", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "name": "allowedRecipients", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_to", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_amount", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "transferWithoutReward", "outputs": [{ "name": "success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_recipient", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_amount", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_description", "type": "string" }, { "name": "_transactionData", "type": "bytes" }, { "name": "_debatingPeriod", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_newCurator", "type": "bool" }], "name": "newProposal", "outputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "name": "DAOpaidOut", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "minQuorumDivisor", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_newContract", "type": "address" }], "name": "newContract", "outputs": [], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_recipient", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_allowed", "type": "bool" }], "name": "changeAllowedRecipients", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [], "name": "halveMinQuorum", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "name": "paidOut", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_newCurator", "type": "address" }], "name": "splitDAO", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "DAOrewardAccount", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "proposalDeposit", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "numberOfProposals", "outputs": [{ "name": "_numberOfProposals", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "lastTimeMinQuorumMet", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_toMembers", "type": "bool" }], "name": "retrieveDAOReward", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [], "name": "receiveEther", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "getNewDAOAddress", "outputs": [{ "name": "_newDAO", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_supportsProposal", "type": "bool" }], "name": "vote", "outputs": [{ "name": "_voteID", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [], "name": "getMyReward", "outputs": [{ "name": "_success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "name": "rewardToken", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_from", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_to", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_amount", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "transferFromWithoutReward", "outputs": [{ "name": "success", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": false, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalDeposit", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "changeProposalDeposit", "outputs": [], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "name": "blocked", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "uint256" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [], "name": "curator", "outputs": [{ "name": "", "type": "address" }], "type": "function" }, { "constant": true, "inputs": [{ "name": "_proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_recipient", "type": "address" }, { "name": "_amount", "type": "uint256" }, { "name": "_transactionData", "type": "bytes" }], "name": "checkProposalCode", "outputs": [{ "name": "_codeChecksOut", "type": "bool" }], "type": "function" }, { "anonymous": false, "inputs": [{ "indexed": true, "name": "proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "recipient", "type": "address" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "amount", "type": "uint256" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "newCurator", "type": "bool" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "description", "type": "string" }], "name": "ProposalAdded", "type": "event" }, { "anonymous": false, "inputs": [{ "indexed": true, "name": "proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "position", "type": "bool" }, { "indexed": true, "name": "voter", "type": "address" }], "name": "Voted", "type": "event" }, { "anonymous": false, "inputs": [{ "indexed": true, "name": "proposalID", "type": "uint256" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "result", "type": "bool" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "quorum", "type": "uint256" }], "name": "ProposalTallied", "type": "event" }, { "anonymous": false, "inputs": [{ "indexed": true, "name": "_newCurator", "type": "address" }], "name": "NewCurator", "type": "event" }, { "anonymous": false, "inputs": [{ "indexed": true, "name": "_recipient", "type": "address" }, { "indexed": false, "name": "_allowed", "type": "bool" }], "name": "AllowedRecipientChanged", "type": "event" }];
undefined
> var theDAOAddress = "0xBB9bc244D798123fDe783fCc1C72d3Bb8C189413";
undefined
> var theDAOInterface = web3.eth.contract(theDAOInterfaceABI).at(theDAOAddress);
undefined
> var theDAOVotedEvent = theDAOInterface.Voted({}, { fromBlock: 1630418, toBlock: 1630428 });
undefined
> var i = 0;
undefined
> theDAOVotedEvent.watch(function (error, result) {
    console.log(i++ + ": " + JSON.stringify(result));
});
...
0: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":false,"proposalID":"3","voter":"0x89dbadfc48054057b6c9c378f6edf9d15d8b1d68"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
1: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":true,"proposalID":"15","voter":"0xcd0a161bc367ae0927a92aac9cf6e5086714efca"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
2: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":true,"proposalID":"15","voter":"0x89dbadfc48054057b6c9c378f6edf9d15d8b1d68"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
I0111 08:59:18.066685 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   9.304ms. #2972620 [591a881e… / 591a881e…]

I'll now try to retrieve the events for 1,000 blocks:

I0111 09:07:13.141814 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  91.993µs. #2972655 [aca94ac7… / aca94ac7…]
> var theDAOVotedEvent = theDAOInterface.Voted({}, { fromBlock: 1630428, toBlock: 1631428 });
undefined
> var i = 0;
undefined
> theDAOVotedEvent.watch(function (error, result) {
    console.log(i++ + ": " + JSON.stringify(result));
});
I0111 09:07:32.414297 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.613ms. #2972656 [4de4e836… / 4de4e836…]
// Still no data
I0111 09:12:04.476901 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.037ms. #2972686 [e8742c05… / e8742c05…]
// Still no data. Exiting program.
I0111 09:14:20.093697 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.376ms. #2972690 [c86f8399… / c86f8399…]

I exited geth and restarted geth --light console and ran the same command as the previous section to retrieve events from 1,000 blocks and the results came back in 15 seconds. 

I0111 09:15:39.512646 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  75.565µs. #2972693 [7321330d… / 7321330d…]
> var theDAOInterfaceABI = [{ "constant": true ...
...
var theDAOVotedEvent = theDAOInterface.Voted({}, { fromBlock: 1630428, toBlock: 1631428 });
undefined
> var i = 0;
undefined
> theDAOVotedEvent.watch(function (error, result) {
    console.log(i++ + ": " + JSON.stringify(result));
});
I0111 09:15:52.424066 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   6.768ms. #2972694 [40492702… / 40492702…]
I0111 09:15:52.543705 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in   73.79µs. #2972694 [40492702… / 40492702…]
I0111 09:16:10.304987 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.613ms. #2972695 [60cc2682… / 60cc2682…]
0: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":true,"proposalID":"17","voter":"0x89dbadfc48054057b6c9c378f6edf9d15d8b1d68"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
1: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":true,"proposalID":"5","voter":"0x1a51e74e25825b4ff2d0110ced7a46e0405259cd"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
...
29: {"address":"0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413","args":{"position":true,"proposalID":"17","voter":"0xeef5d8bb8391dccfc606047cf65e3fb24379acf5"},"blockHash":null,"blockNumber":null,"event":"Voted","logIndex":0,"removed":false,"transactionHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","transactionIndex":0}
I0111 09:16:25.950938 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.576ms. #2972696 [59f8d25c… / 59f8d25c…]
I0111 09:16:31.604916 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   7.879ms. #2972697 [5b8f6907… / 5b8f6907…]

Conclusion:

  1. geth --light seems a bit unstable currently for the retrieval of events from a historical part of the blockchain. The first retrieval of events from 1,000 blocks did not return the data in a reasonable time (I waited 7 minutes). I stopped geth and restarted it and ran the same command again. The block data for the 1,000 blocks was already downloaded and the events were retrieved the second time in 15 seconds.
  2. But the syncing and performance seems pretty good if you just need the current data.

Update

Syncing 7 hours worth of blocks took 8 seconds:

> I0111 16:10:43.598515 eth/downloader/downloader.go:326] Block synchronisation started
I0111 16:10:47.586689 contracts/release/release.go:134] Failed to retrieve current release: Missing trie node f62d536cd4f1bfd9b0b5d2d1a989ea2ca40f9fb4bbdee93fc346addf0d83b9c3
I0111 16:10:49.137822 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 576 headers in    2.053s. #2973345 [d94df51e… / d096138a…]
I0111 16:10:49.209909 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in  62.450ms. #2973537 [2fefee19… / d3bfd1eb…]
I0111 16:10:49.323178 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 384 headers in  89.319ms. #2973921 [f7365657… / d3b513bb…]
I0111 16:10:49.942067 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in  39.532ms. #2974113 [8f08532d… / 971d6b2c…]
I0111 16:10:52.490579 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 192 headers in  43.145ms. #2974305 [ddd9974a… / 92a3086d…]
I0111 16:10:55.263782 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 121 headers in 155.070ms. #2974426 [907785ea… / f2daed7b…]
> eth.syncing
false
> I0111 16:11:17.416889 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   7.214ms. #2974427 [3dbe6f83… / 3dbe6f83…]
I0111 16:11:17.467800 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  63.661µs. #2974427 [3dbe6f83… / 3dbe6f83…]
I0111 16:11:17.765045 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  81.887µs. #2974427 [3dbe6f83… / 3dbe6f83…]
I0111 16:11:25.297098 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 1 headers in   5.074ms. #2974428 [f8717170… / f8717170…]
I0111 16:11:25.435765 core/headerchain.go:331] imported 0 headers (1 ignored) in  72.059µs. #2974428 [f8717170… / f8717170…]
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