Book Image

Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition

By : Imran Bashir
Book Image

Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition

By: Imran Bashir

Overview of this book

Publisher's Note: This edition from 2018 is outdated and does not cover the latest insights on consensus algorithms, Ethereum 2.0, tokenization, and enterprise blockchains. A new and updated edition of this book that includes all the newest developments and improvements in Blockchain including the above topics is now available. A blockchain is a distributed ledger that is replicated across multiple nodes and enables immutable, transparent and cryptographically secure record-keeping of transactions. The blockchain technology is the backbone of cryptocurrencies, and it has applications in finance, government, media and almost all other industries. Mastering Blockchain, Second Edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to provide a detailed description of this leading technology and its implementation in the real world. This book begins with the technical foundations of blockchain technology, teaching you the fundamentals of distributed systems, cryptography and how it keeps data secure. You will learn about the mechanisms behind cryptocurrencies and how to develop applications using Ethereum, a decentralized virtual machine. You will also explore different other blockchain solutions and get an introduction to business blockchain frameworks under Hyperledger, a collaborative effort for the advancement of blockchain technologies hosted by the Linux Foundation. You will also be shown how to implement blockchain solutions beyond currencies, Internet of Things with blockchain, blockchain scalability, and the future scope of this fascinating and powerful technology.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
14
Introducing Web3
17
Blockchain – Outside of Currencies
18
Scalability and Other Challenges

Summary

This chapter started with the introduction of programming languages for programming smart contracts in Ethereum. After this, other concepts such as blocks, block structure, gas, and messages were also introduced and discussed in detail. The later sections of the chapter introduced the practical installation and management of Ethereum clients. Two most famous clients, Geth and Parity, were discussed.

Finally, supporting protocols and topics related to challenges faced by Ethereum were presented. Ethereum is under continuous development, and new improvements are being made by a dedicated community of developers regularly. Ethereum improvement proposals, available at https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs, are also an indication of the magnitude of research and keen interest by the community in this technology. Moreover, a recently launched initiative, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance...