A Developer's Guide to Ethereum

A Developer's Guide to Ethereum

by Bruno Skvorc, Mateja Kendel, David Attard, Mislav Javor, Tonino Jankov, Chris Ward
Released August 2018
Publisher(s): SitePoint
ISBN: 9781925836011

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Book description

Blockchain technology has certainly been hyped over the past few years, but when you strip all of that away, what can actually do with it? This book is a collection of articles that provide an introduction to Ethereum, an open source platform that's based based on blockchain. It enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications that can be relied on to work without fraud, censorship or interference from third parties.

We start off by explaining what blockchain is and how it works, and also look at some potential practical applications for blockchain technology. We then move on to looking at the Ethereum platform specifically. Far more than just a cryptocurrency or smart contracts platform, Ethereum is becoming an entire ecosystem for building decentralized applications.

This book contains:

  • Blockchain: What It Is, How It Works, Why It's So Popular by Bruno Skvorc
  • What is a Bitcoin Node? Mining versus Validation by Bruno Skvorc
  • How the Lightning Network Helps Blockchains Scale by Bruno Skvorc
  • The Top Nine Uses for Blockchain by Mateja Kendel
  • Introduction to Ethereum: A Cryptocurrency with a Difference by Bruno Skvorc
  • A Deep Dive into Cryptography by Bruno Skvorc
  • 3 Bitcoin Alternatives Compared: Ethereum, Cardano and NEO by David Attard
  • Compiling and Smart Contracts: ABI Explained by Mislav Javor
  • Ethereum Wallets: Send and Receive Ether with MyEtherWallet by Bruno Skvorc
  • Ethereum: How Transaction Costs are Calculated by Bruno Skvorc
  • Proof of Stake vs Proof of Work by Bruno Skvorc
  • Ethereum's Casper: Ghostbusting Proof of Stake Problems by Tonino Jankov
  • Decentralized Storage and Publication with IPFS and Swarm by Tonino Jankov
  • Ethereum Messaging: Explaining Whisper and Status.im by Tonino Jankov
  • Ethereum: Internal Transactions & Token Transfers Explained by Bruno Skvorc
  • BigchainDB: Blockchain and Data Storage by Chris Ward

This book is for anyone interested in using the Ethereum platform for development. No prior knowledge of blockchain is assumed.

Publisher resources

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Table of contents

  1. A Developer's Guide to Ethereum
  2. Notice of Rights
  3. Notice of Liability
  4. Trademark Notice
  5. About SitePoint
  6. Preface
    1. Who Should Read This Book?
    2. Conventions Used
  7. Chapter 1: Blockchain: What It Is, How It Works, Why It’s So Popular
    1. Mario and Luigi
    2. Papers
    3. Seals and Mining
    4. Conclusion
    5. What Next?
  8. Chapter 2: What is a Bitcoin Node? Mining versus Validation
    1. Validation Nodes
    2. Mining Nodes
    3. Conclusion
  9. Chapter 3: How the Lightning Network Helps Blockchains Scale
    1. The Basics of the Lightning Network
    2. How the Lightning Network Works
    3. Network and Routing
    4. Conclusion
  10. Chapter 4: The Top Nine Uses for Blockchain
    1. 1. Financial Freedom
    2. 2. Decentralized Data
    3. 3. Decentralized Internet and Chat
    4. 4. Immutable Records
    5. 5. Automation of Civilization
    6. 6. Democracy (Voting)
    7. 7. Loyalty Points
    8. 8. Royalty and Proof-of-authorship
    9. 9. Company Management
    10. Bonus: Supply Chain
    11. Conclusion
  11. Chapter 5: Introduction to Ethereum: A Cryptocurrency with a Difference
    1. Finality
    2. Smart Contracts
    3. What are ERC20 Tokens?
    4. PoS
    5. Conclusion
  12. Chapter 6: A Deep Dive into Cryptography
    1. Cryptography
    2. Symmetric Encryption (with a Private Key)
    3. Asymmetric Encryption (with a Public Key)
    4. Asymmetric Encryption and Bitcoin
    5. Conclusion
  13. Chapter 7: 3 Bitcoin Alternatives Compared: Ethereum, Cardano and NEO
    1. What is Ethereum?
    2. What is Cardano?
    3. What is NEO?
    4. Conclusion
  14. Chapter 8: Compiling and Smart Contracts: ABI Explained
    1. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
    2. Solidity Compiler
    3. ABI — Application Binary Interface
    4. Example
    5. Conclusion
  15. Chapter 9: Ethereum Wallets: Send and Receive Ether with MyEtherWallet
    1. Creating and Reading an Address
    2. Receiving Ether
    3. Sending Ether
    4. Conclusion
  16. Chapter 10: Ethereum: How Transaction Costs are Calculated
    1. EVM
    2. Gas, Ether, and GWei
    3. Conclusion
  17. Chapter 11: Proof of Stake vs Proof of Work
    1. Proof of Work
    2. Proof of Stake (PoS)
    3. Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS)
    4. Proof of Authority
    5. Conclusion
  18. Chapter 12: Ethereum's Casper: Ghostbusting Proof of Stake Problems
    1. Byzantine Fault Tolerance
    2. Consensus Mechanisms
    3. Ethereum Consensus Algorithms
    4. Casper, the “Friendly Ghost”
    5. Advantages of Proof Of Stake
    6. Problems with PoS
    7. Conclusion
  19. Chapter 13: Decentralized Storage and Publication with IPFS and Swarm
    1. Decentralized Storage and Publication
    2. IPFS
    3. Swarm
    4. Commonalities
    5. Conclusion
  20. Chapter 14: Ethereum Messaging: Explaining Whisper and Status.im
    1. Whisper
    2. Protocol Elements
    3. Status.im
    4. The Ecosystem
    5. Conclusion
  21. Chapter 15: Ethereum: Internal Transactions & Token Transfers Explained
    1. External and Internal Addresses
    2. Transaction Types
    3. Token Transfers
    4. Conclusion
  22. Chapter 16: BigchainDB: Blockchain and Data Storage
    1. Other Alternatives
    2. Part of a Decentralized Future

Product information

  • Title: A Developer's Guide to Ethereum
  • Author(s): Bruno Skvorc, Mateja Kendel, David Attard, Mislav Javor, Tonino Jankov, Chris Ward
  • Release date: August 2018
  • Publisher(s): SitePoint
  • ISBN: 9781925836011