Could somebody please explain in detail what this Ethereum contract is doing?

Question

I am new to ethereum & blockchain technology and trying to understand somethings(Etheruem, Truffle, DApps etc.) here and there from the internet. From Ethereum official website,

Create a cryptocurrency contract in Ethereum

I am trying to specifically understand these functions

approve(address _spender, uint _value) returns (bool success) {...}

approveAndCall(address _spender, uint _value, bytes _extraData) returns (bool success) {...}

transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success) {...}

and lastly this function() {throw;}

This contract code

contract tokenRecipient {
  function receiveApproval(address _from, uint _value, address _token, bytes _extraData);
}

and this declaration mapping (address => mapping (address => uint) ) public allowance;

Answer 1

approve(address _spender, uint _value) returns (bool success) {...}

This function is just being used to make an entry to the allowance array when another contract want to spend some tokens. _ spender is the address of the contract which is going to use it. _value denotes the number of tokens to be spend.

approveAndCall(address _spender, uint _value, bytes _extraData) returns (bool success) {...}

if approve() function returns true, it will invoke the receiveApproval() function of contract tokenRecipient.

transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success) {...}

This function will be used to transfer tokens from one address to another. Variables are self-explanatory.

function() {throw;}

This is fallback function. According to its functionality, this function will be executed when someone tries to send the ether to the contract. throw; prevents accidental sending of ether.

contract tokenRecipient { function receiveApproval(address _from, uint _value, address _token, bytes _extraData); }

This tells the MyToken contract that the function receiveApproval of contract tokenRecipient can be invoked somewhere in this code.

mapping (address => mapping (address => uint) ) public allowance;

And lastly this line is a way to declare an array by defining the type of key and value. Value further can contain an array. You can assume it a 2D array. This is being used here to keep the record of users asking for the approval of spending the token for the other contracts.

This contract is ERC20-compliant as it implements the approve(...), transfer(..) and transferFrom(...) functions.
For more detail : https://theethereum.wiki/w/index.php/ERC20_Token_Standard#How_Does_A_Token_Contract_Work.3F