Book Image

Ethereum Smart Contract Development

By : Mayukh Mukhopadhyay
Book Image

Ethereum Smart Contract Development

By: Mayukh Mukhopadhyay

Overview of this book

Ethereum is a public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform featuring smart contract functionality. This book is your one-stop guide to blockchain and Ethereum smart contract development. We start by introducing you to the basics of blockchain. You'll learn about hash functions, Merkle trees, forking, mining, and much more. Then you'll learn about Ethereum and smart contracts, and we'll cover Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) in detail. Next, you'll get acquainted with DApps and DAOs and see how they work. We'll also delve into the mechanisms of advanced smart contracts, taking a practical approach. You'll also learn how to develop your own cryptocurrency from scratch in order to understand the business behind ICO. Further on, you'll get to know the key concepts of the Solidity programming language, enabling you to build decentralized blockchain-based applications. We'll also look at enterprise use cases, where you'll build a decentralized microblogging site. At the end of this book, we discuss blockchain-as-a-service, the dark web marketplace, and various advanced topics so you can get well versed with the blockchain principles and ecosystem.

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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Title Page
Dedication
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Contributors
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Blockchain Basics
Blockchain Basics
Understanding distributed systems
The Byzantine Generals' Problem
The CAP theorem
Consensus in distributed systems
Understanding the hash function and the Merkle tree
Understanding a blockchain–a developer and trader's perspective
Blockchain mining and forking
Blockchains – evolution, generations, and hype
Summary
2
Grokking Ethereum
Grokking Ethereum
Understanding Ethereum
The notion of decentralization
The Ethereum ecosystem
Hardware clients and internet
Turing completeness and the magic sauce
Ethereum block, mining, and forking
The Ethereum wallet and client interface
Summary
3
Hello World of Smart Contracts
Hello World of Smart Contracts
A smart contract in seven lines of code
Remix in a nutshell
Increment and decrement operations using Solidity
Coding a loop
Raising an issue on GitHub
Smart contract on a private blockchain
Summary
4
A Noob's Guide to DApps and DAO
A Noob's Guide to DApps and DAO
Understanding DApps
What is ethercast?
Understanding the design of DAO
The rise and fall of DAO
Summary
5
Deep-Diving into Smart Contracts
Deep-Diving into Smart Contracts
What makes a contract "smart"?
Basic anatomy of a smart contract design
Designing a voting DApp
Summary
6
Solidity in Depth
Solidity in Depth
Need for solidity
Nuances, syntax, and features of solidity
Optimizer and debugging options
Parity hack demystified
Summary
7
Primer on Web3.js
Primer on Web3.js
Web3.js in the Ethereum ecosystem
Running a smart contract using Web3.js
API structure of Web3.js
Designing an ownership contract
Summary
8
Developing a Cryptocurrency from Scratch
Developing a Cryptocurrency from Scratch
Token versus coin
ERC20 token development using Truffle
Arbitrage trading for cryptocurrencies
The ICO story
Fiat2Crypto and Crypto2Crypto exchange
Parity hack returns
Summary
9
Enterprise Use Cases
Enterprise Use Cases
Banking and payments
Networking and the Internet of Things
Smart contract use cases
Decentralized microblogging
Summary
10
BaaS and the Dark Web Market
BaaS and the Dark Web Market
Playful privacy
Types of blockchain
Blockchain-as-a-service
Enterprise platforms for BaaS
Dark web marketplace
Project smartCV
Summary
11
Advanced Topics and the Road Ahead
Advanced Topics and the Road Ahead
Common design patterns
DACs and DAS
Ethereum improvement proposal
Consortium blockchains
Tangle beyond blockchain
Summary
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Index
Index

Running a smart contract using Web3.js

In this section, we will do a hands-on tutorial. So put on your lab coats! We will do the following right now:

  1. Install Web3.js from GitHub.
  2. Install an HTTP server and get it up and running.
  3. Write a quick-and-dirty JavaScript smart contract using Web3.js.
  4. Open geth and attach our private blockchain with Web3.js.
  5. Open a web browser to launch our smart contract using Web3.js.
  6. Open Mist to validate the outcome of our smart contract.

To install Web3.js from GitHub on Windows, we require the git bash kernel. Once we have installed the git bash kernel, we can clone the Web3.js GitHub path and download the HTTP server using the following command:

> git clone https://github.com/ethereum/web3.js.git> install -g http-server

The outcome is as follows:

Figure 7.4: Web3.js and http-server installation from GitHub

Once the HTTP server is installed, we can kick-start the server with the http-server command. To kill the server instance, we need to press Ctrl + C. Now we...

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