Learning kit for learning all that you need to know about the blockchain before the JSHacks Hackathon.
Resources on blockchain are starting to appear everywhere. A lot of people are writing about the part of the topic they are learning about.
Some people are writing amazing articles, that help spread the knowledge. But it's all scattered across the internet and it's quite hard to put the pieces together. Some articles have unmentioned prerequisite knowledge, some venture into far too much detail and technical terminology. But they all contribute to the growing understanding of blockchain technology.
So I am making a compilation which will introduce you gradually to the complexities of the blockchain, leveraging the amazing work that has already been done by people in their own effort to learn about the blockchain.
- Get a list of 20 articles from people that are currently learning about this. Classify then come back and look through references.
- Read each, and provide in the list, a 1 sentence summary of what it is about.
- Classify according to technical difficulty ( beginner, intermediate, advanced).
- Structure them in a logical order, so they follow logically one from the other. And fill the gaps in information with other articles.
- Make a presentation using resources from existing articles, putting everything together, starting simple and gradually introducing nuances and complexities of the blockchain.
Each level of difficulty should have summary articles and detailed articles. Summaries come before the detailed ones, so one can see the big picture and fit it in his head. Note to self, after a certain point more information becomes irrelevant to understanding and to the purpose of this kit.
Rules:
- If an article requires prerequisite knowledge that is assumed in the text, then it should go after another article that has prerequisite knowledge.
- We always start with general, high-level information, and after that further articles zoom in either on more specific issues, or explain things in more detail.
Labels:
- on difficulty:
- [BEGINNER] / [INTERMEDIATE] / [ADVANCED];
- depth it covers an issue:
- [DETAILED] / [SUMMARY]
- subtopic of the blockchain that it focuses on:
- e.g. [SMART-CONTRACTS][CRYPTOCURRENCY][ICO]
- developer resource
- [DEVELOPMENT]
- for a list of subtopics we might need to address, look into this article - https://hackernoon.com/a-primer-on-blockchains-protocols-and-token-sales-9ebe117b5759
The objective in this category of readings is to get you familiarised with the end-to-end view of blockchain. We will spare some technical details in order to keep things clear at this point. Your objective is to get a grasp of some of the terminology, concrete examples of things enabled by blockchain technology (Ethereum, Bitcoin).
- ~ 10,000 foot overview of how the blockchain works
- [BEGINNER][BLOCKCHAIN][SUMMARY]
https://thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com/bitcoin-infographic_5029189c9cbaf_w1500.jpg
- ~ A specific example of something built on top of blockchain technology, bitcoins and bitcoin transactions
- [BEGINNER][BITCOIN][SUMMARY]
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/explain-bitcoin-like-im-five-73b4257ac833
- ~ Explaining bitcoin in terms we already understand
- [BEGINNER][CRYPTOCURRENCY][DETAILED]
http://whatthefuckisethereum.com/#five
- ~ Explaining ethereum in one sentence
- [BEGINNER][ETHEREUM][SUMMARY]
https://blog.ethereum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ethereum-image-infographic-beginners-guide.png
- ~ Ethereum - Explaining the most common terms and some ethereum usecases
- [BEGINNER][ETHEREUM][SUMMARY]
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/smart-contracts-for-dummies-a1ba1e0b9575 [BEGINNER][SMART-CONTRACTS][DETAILED]
- ~ Smart contracts, a pillar of understanding what it is awesome about Ethereum, explained in plain language
-
- requires: [BEGINNER][BLOCKCHAIN]
At this point, we are beginning to see the big picture. From this point on, the only way is down. We need to dive deeper, and really spend more time to let the information sink in.
https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-the-blockchain-1da89ba19348
- ~ A longer explanation, focusing on what problem it solves, and some other key fundamental concepts in the blockchain
- [INTERMEDIATE][BLOCKCHAIN][DETAILED]
https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-ethereum-c65e0d67ac09
- ~ A longer explanation, focusing on the problem ethereum solves, some key usecases for smart contracts, and other fundamental concepts
- [INTERMEDIATE][ETHEREUM][DETAILED]
https://hackernoon.com/a-primer-on-blockchains-protocols-and-token-sales-9ebe117b5759
- ~ Explaining key concepts such as: tokens, icos, blockchain protocols.
- [INTERMEDIATE][BLOCKCHAIN][DETAILED]
https://medium.com/yope-chain/30-things-you-can-do-with-a-blockchain-b23b2ab39664
- ~ 30 ideas to open your mind about the possibilities enabled by blockchain technology
- [INTERMEDIATE][USECASES]
http://ledracapital.com/blog/2014/3/11/bitcoin-series-24-the-mega-master-blockchain-list
- ~ An open/rough attempt to brainstorm what asset registries, keys or related items theoretically could be implemented in a blockchain model.
- [INTERMEDIATE][USECASES]
At this point we understand things conceptually, we have a grasp of some of the terminology, some of the aplications. We now want to start building something. Either a simple implementation of a blockchain so we can further solidify our understanding, or some trivial application to understand the technical toolset available for developers.
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-does-blockchain-really-work-i-built-an-app-to-show-you-6b70cd4caf7d ~ A simple application to illustrate how the blockchain works
- [DEVELOPMENT][BLOCKCHAIN]
https://medium.com/@mattcondon/getting-up-to-speed-on-ethereum-63ed28821bbe
- ~ A developer friendly guide to the current technical ecosystem around ethereum
- [ADVANCED][ETHEREUM][OVERVIEW][DETAILED]
- ~ Intro to Programming Smart Contracts on Ethereum
- [DEVELOPMENT][ETHEREUM]
- ~ A simple ‘Hello World!’ decentralised application.
- [DEVELOPMENT][ETHEREUM
https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/
- ~ Documentation for Solidity - Solidity is a contract-oriented, high-level language whose syntax is similar to that of JavaScript and it is designed to target the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
- [DEVELOPMENT][ETHEREUM]
https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/
- ~ Ask your ethereum related questions
- [ETHEREUM]
This list is intentionally short. We don't want to flood you with information so much that it just goes out the window. Everything is structured to gently introduce you to the first layers of this huge topic, so that you begin to build a solid foundation of understanding on which to confidently start building your vision.