Hey all, I'm a programmer, though I don't know the first thing about cryptocurrencies. I'm trying to learn more about the process to determine if there's any possible development work I might do. I'm getting my feet wet with Monero...about half-way through the synchronization process. In the meantime I've been googling to learn about the the technical aspects of mining Monero.

One of my focuses in development work is in speed and efficiency. What I understand about cryptocurrency mining is that it all comes down to how quickly blocks can be solved. I was hoping to gain an understanding of the entire block-solving process, again to see if there's anything I might be able to do in the way of speed and efficiency.

I was curious if someone could give me an overview of the block solving process? For example, what exactly is being sent to each computer solving blocks? I have to tell you that the word "hash" as I've heard used in regard to mining is different than what I'm used to. I think that's one of the reasons I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of mining hashes.

Could someone give me a quick overview of the mining process, again in terms of what is sent to each computer and what each computer does in response?

Thanks!