Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
61–70 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#62This book is insidiously useful. I went from not getting it at all to getting it more or less completely. Includes code interacting with the blockchain in a wide variety of ways. http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000001802
"Insidiously"? Now I'm really curious if that's a typo, or the book is treacherous in some fashion.
No, I'm just fond of using that word to mean "extremely" despite that not being a common usage. I'm from the north east, so to me it registers the same as saying "wicked" to mean "extremely", like "wicked cool," which is a regional thing.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#63Annotated Bitcoin paper (which also talks about Blockchain) - http://genius.com/2683791
Digital Currency MOOC http://digitalcurrency.unic.ac.cy/free-introductory-mooc/
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#64Read the original Bitcoin paper, it should take no more than two hours even if you're not technical; http://genius.com/Satoshi-nakamoto-bitcoin-a-peer-to-peer-el..., once you understand what a blockchain does you'll probably want to know more about smart contracts http://about.smartcontract.com/#defining-a-smart-contract, since their decentralized data/transaction storage capabilities enable the decentralized computation which has the capacity to replace 90%+ of computable contracts (http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC15_Technological_Tipping...) which are currently in silos, much like what we had with various data before the internet
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
To contrast that, patio11 has written various things ragging on bitcoin from a tech/business perspective. It's well worth reading.
He is otherwise great chap, but I don't think he is the guy to turn to on bitcoin/blockchain topics. He has focus certainly somewhere else, and to me his rants about bitcoin sound more like a general complaining because he missed the train.
You should probably also not turn to someone heavily invested in Bitcoin, since they have a lot to lose...
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#66Newb question: Why do people refer to it (these?) as "the" blockchain?
It depends on the context.
Ethereum is a platform that uses a blockchain to build and record consensus. Conceptually, the blockchain is a technology underpinning each cryptocurrency. Across the many cryptocurrencies in use, there are many blockchains keeping track of who owns what.
It is never correct to refer to a capitalized "Blockchain," or refer to it singularly without articles (a or the), imho. We don't refer to other data structures that way, like a priority queue.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#67Building the minimum viable block chain: https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain... That's where I would start.
That was excellent, thank you.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#68Read the Greek guys open source book.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Learning about blockchains can certainly be disconnected from Bitcoin. Go read the Ethereum docs for example.
Ethereum stuff can also prove how to do things wrong... The DAO is a good example of that, and now the recent ddos attack.
TheDAO is an example of a mistake on the path towards building something better/safer. You don't think airbags have ever killed people? Faulty seatbelts? Did Tesla abandon auto-pilot because of a few accidents? Do I need to go on and on? This is a nascent technology, of course there are going to be missteps along the way, and to hold it against Ethereum forever is an incredibly cynical point of view for supposed technologists.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to learn about the blockchain?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Learning about blockchains can certainly be disconnected from Bitcoin. Go read the Ethereum docs for example.
There are no uses for turing complete smart contracts. Multisig and nLockTime perform all the same functions with lower risk and greater scalability.
Chris DeRose, you have no power here.