TestRPC basic quetions

Question

Hello to everyone I am quite new in the Ethereum. I am writing my Solidity contracts, deploy them using Truffle on TestRPC. I have few questions regarding TestRPC in order to understand it.

When I install testRPC on my macbook, do I have my macbook as only node here?

Are testRPC accounts Externally Owned Accounts?

Does testRPC have mining option, or does my macbook do mining job?

Why the length of my transaction block is equals to one, and can I setup it on some other value?

Thank you for your answers!

Answer 1

When you install testRPC, your macbook is the only node, however it's not persistent, and it will reset if you restart testrpc.

TestRPC accounts are Externally Owned Accounts

TestRPC automatically mines blocks as transactions occur. You can set it to automine by setting the -b flag, which sets automatic mining time in seconds.

If by length of transaction block, you're asking why each block holds only one transaction, it's because testrpc automatically mines after each transaction.

Answer 2

Testrpc is a locally run ethereum network. You are in control of all the accounts and its basically just a mock system that runs really fast and you don't need any test ether / have to deal with connection issues.
Here's an old guide on when to use it. https://karl.tech/intro-guide-to-ethereum-testnets/

But for the parameters you can set, refer to the github: https://github.com/ethereumjs/testrpc . I think the reason every block is one transaction is that the blocks are basically instamined since everything is run locally, so maybe if you kick two transactions off at the exact same time you could get the block larger