1 files changed, 19 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/src/base58.h b/src/base58.h
index 592756ff74..cace423d6e 100644
--- a/src/base58.h
+++ b/src/base58.h
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 static const char* pszBase58 = "123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz";
 
-
+// Encode a byte sequence as a base58-encoded string
 inline std::string EncodeBase58(const unsigned char* pbegin, const unsigned char* pend)
 {
     CAutoBN_CTX pctx;
@@ -62,11 +62,14 @@ inline std::string EncodeBase58(const unsigned char* pbegin, const unsigned char
     return str;
 }
 
+// Encode a byte vector as a base58-encoded string
 inline std::string EncodeBase58(const std::vector<unsigned char>& vch)
 {
     return EncodeBase58(&vch[0], &vch[0] + vch.size());
 }
 
+// Decode a base58-encoded string psz into byte vector vchRet
+// returns true if decoding is succesful
 inline bool DecodeBase58(const char* psz, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRet)
 {
     CAutoBN_CTX pctx;
@@ -113,6 +116,8 @@ inline bool DecodeBase58(const char* psz, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRet)
     return true;
 }
 
+// Decode a base58-encoded string str into byte vector vchRet
+// returns true if decoding is succesful
 inline bool DecodeBase58(const std::string& str, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRet)
 {
     return DecodeBase58(str.c_str(), vchRet);
@@ -121,7 +126,7 @@ inline bool DecodeBase58(const std::string& str, std::vector<unsigned char>& vch
 
 
 
-
+// Encode a byte vector to a base58-encoded string, including checksum
 inline std::string EncodeBase58Check(const std::vector<unsigned char>& vchIn)
 {
     // add 4-byte hash check to the end
@@ -131,6 +136,8 @@ inline std::string EncodeBase58Check(const std::vector<unsigned char>& vchIn)
     return EncodeBase58(vch);
 }
 
+// Decode a base58-encoded string psz that includes a checksum, into byte vector vchRet
+// returns true if decoding is succesful
 inline bool DecodeBase58Check(const char* psz, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRet)
 {
     if (!DecodeBase58(psz, vchRet))
@@ -150,6 +157,8 @@ inline bool DecodeBase58Check(const char* psz, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRe
     return true;
 }
 
+// Decode a base58-encoded string str that includes a checksum, into byte vector vchRet
+// returns true if decoding is succesful
 inline bool DecodeBase58Check(const std::string& str, std::vector<unsigned char>& vchRet)
 {
     return DecodeBase58Check(str.c_str(), vchRet);
@@ -159,11 +168,14 @@ inline bool DecodeBase58Check(const std::string& str, std::vector<unsigned char>
 
 
 
-
+// Base class for all base58-encoded data
 class CBase58Data
 {
 protected:
+    // the version byte
     unsigned char nVersion;
+
+    // the actually encoded data
     std::vector<unsigned char> vchData;
 
     CBase58Data()
@@ -174,6 +186,7 @@ protected:
 
     ~CBase58Data()
     {
+        // zero the memory, as it may contain sensitive data
         if (!vchData.empty())
             memset(&vchData[0], 0, vchData.size());
     }
@@ -238,7 +251,9 @@ public:
     bool operator> (const CBase58Data& b58) const { return CompareTo(b58) >  0; }
 };
 
-
+// base58-encoded bitcoin addresses
+// Addresses have version 0 or 111 (testnet)
+// The data vector contains RIPEMD160(SHA256(pubkey)), where pubkey is the serialized public key
 class CBitcoinAddress : public CBase58Data
 {
 public: