Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by EvanAnderson 1406 days ago
Quite simply each entry contains both the "to" and "from" for the transaction. It's a construct to guarantee atomicity. The two "sides" of the transaction can never be out of balance with each other. If you lose an entire entry the system remains in balance-- you've lost a transaction but you're not in a situation wondering "where the money went" because nothing moves without both sides of the transaction.