def build_operation(id, path, args, command='set', table='block'):
    """
    Data updates sent to the submitTransaction endpoint consist of a sequence of "operations". This is a helper
    function that constructs one of these operations.
    """
    if isinstance(path, str):
        path = path.split('.')
    return {'id': id, 'path': path, 'args': args, 'command': command,
        'table': table}
