Do you really understand blockchain? First, read "Bitcoin and Ethereum from an Engineer's Perspective" and then talk
For developers who want to delve into new public chains, the Bitcoin protocol and the Ethereum protocol are still indispensable textbooks in the blockchain space.Author: TinTinLand
Since the iteration of blockchain technology, its development has been rapid. The core technologies left by Bitcoin and Ethereum are still very useful and have undoubtedly become the two most mainstream blockchain development platforms today. Currently, Bitcoin is the first truly global P2P application in the world, having operated stably for 10 years; while Ethereum is the first usable global smart contract platform, which has also been running stably for nearly 4 years. Correspondingly, blockchain itself has only a ten-year history and has only attracted attention in the last three to four years.
Even after such a long time, the number of developers for Ethereum and Bitcoin continues to grow, ranking among the top in developer growth within the blockchain ecosystem. According to the 2021 developer report released by blockchain venture capital firm Electric Capital, in 2021, the number of developers in the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems grew by 42% and 9% respectively.
Among the full-time developers who joined the Ethereum ecosystem in 2017, 30% chose to continue contributing. Ethereum still has the largest ecosystem of tools, applications, and protocols, and is 2.8 times larger than the second-largest ecosystem. Among every 5 new developers entering Web3, 1 is working for Ethereum. Similarly, more than 100 new developers enter the Bitcoin ecosystem every month, and in December 2021, Bitcoin had an average of over 600 active developers per month.
It can be said that for developers looking to enter the blockchain, understanding the Bitcoin and Ethereum protocols is undoubtedly the right way to start in the Web3 world. For developers wanting to delve into new public chains, the Bitcoin and Ethereum protocols remain essential textbooks in the blockchain space.
Even as blockchain technology matures through testing and demonstrates its strong vitality today, the innovations made by new public chains still attempt to optimize based on Ethereum. In the story of third-generation public chains, people focus on the design of consensus mechanisms, solving energy consumption and attack risks in proof-of-work mechanisms, attempting to develop scaling technologies, and using cross-chain and sharding solutions to enhance blockchain scalability and capacity, all of which are intricately linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The concepts of consensus mechanisms and smart contracts proposed by Bitcoin and Ethereum not only laid the foundation for the underlying systems of cryptography and distributed systems in blockchain but also continue to expand and enrich people's imagination regarding the many challenges and pain points faced on this foundation.
The rapid pace of new concepts and technologies inevitably causes anxiety, and the reality of learning progress never keeping up with technological development poses a challenge. How to "counter each move"? Constantly tracing back to the development vision and technical logic of blockchain, and reviewing the understanding of core technical knowledge is also a wise choice. Because techniques are easy to practice, but the foundation is the cornerstone of existence. Fast-food, superficial approaches should not be the choice of technical professionals.
Starting from 0 to learn blockchain: Bitcoin and Ethereum from an engineer's perspective
The audio course "Starting from 0 to Learn Blockchain: Bitcoin and Ethereum from an Engineer's Perspective" launched by TinTinLand is specifically designed to help software engineers deeply understand the foundational technologies and protocols related to blockchain and smart contracts. It is based on practical development scenarios, adopting the most suitable learning methods for engineers, and utilizing fragmented time to guide you in understanding the essence of blockchain technology from shallow to deep.
The course invites senior blockchain evangelist Yang Zhen as the speaker, who will provide detailed explanations of the most representative protocol details, basic data design, and implementation principles of the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, helping you quickly grasp basic concepts and core theories.
Whether you are a business developer looking to assess code performance and resource consumption; an architectural designer wanting to optimize design patterns; or simply an enthusiast eager to quickly navigate blockchain technology, we hope this course can truly spark your interest and thinking about blockchain and smart contracts, and even serve as your enlightenment course and stepping stone into Web3.
We hope that after the course, you will gain:
Essential foundational knowledge for blockchain beginners;
In-depth analysis and explanation of core blockchain technologies;
Case studies of practical blockchain application scenarios.
Our course is suitable for:
Technical beginners who wish to organize their blockchain learning path;
Non-blockchain field technical personnel who want to systematically learn blockchain fundamentals;
Blockchain practitioners with basic industry knowledge who wish to further understand blockchain;
Enthusiasts who want to deeply understand the connotation of blockchain and have a strong interest in it;
Developers who have at least a basic understanding of programming knowledge in one high-level language.
I. Instructor
Yang Zhen | Translator of the Ethereum Yellow Paper, contributor, proofreader, and administrator of the Solidity official documentation translation project.
Personal introduction:
Senior software engineer, architect, and blockchain technology evangelist, focusing on promoting blockchain technology, contributing to Chinese technical communities, and developing and auditing smart contracts;
With 17 years of experience in the software industry, rich frontline development experience, and engineering experience; adept at analyzing key points and explaining complex concepts, always maintaining a thirst for new technologies, and has been deeply engaged in technology for over a decade, with strong summarization and refinement abilities;
Started contributing to the Ethereum technical community in 2017: independently translated the Ethereum Homestead official documentation; independently proofread and updated the Chinese version of the Ethereum Yellow Paper; independently translated the Ethereum sharding technical description.
Yang Zhen began learning and researching Ethereum at the end of 2016, accumulating over a year of related knowledge. Combined with his translation of the Ethereum Yellow Paper, translation of the Solidity official documentation, and continuous learning in smart contract development, security auditing, best practices, etc., he has developed a very deep understanding and knowledge of smart contract development based on Ethereum.
Currently, there are no advanced courses in China that systematically explain the principles of Ethereum smart contract development, security development practices, and contract Gas optimization based on the Yellow Paper; Yang Zhen, as an old programmer dedicated to evangelizing blockchain technology, has the greatest advantage of having spent over a decade deeply engaged in technology, paying attention to details, and being willing to study hard. He believes that with his personal experience and deep understanding of program design and development, he can help beginners grasp key content and save a lot of time from entry to mastery; leading developers with a foundation and interest in learning smart contract development to quickly enter the world of smart contracts, striving to become qualified smart contract developers in the shortest time possible.
II. Course Outline
This course consists of 13 chapters, with each class lasting approximately 20 minutes.
Lesson 1 | Introduction to Basic Technical Concepts
As the first session of the series, this lesson will briefly introduce the three foundational technologies of blockchain—P2P networks, digital signatures, and cryptographic hash functions—as the conceptual foundation for subsequent explanations.
Lesson 2 | Interpretation of the Bitcoin White Paper
This lesson will break down and explain the Bitcoin white paper, starting with a detailed interpretation of all the important technical components in the Bitcoin system: transactions, timestamp servers, proof of work, and a peer-to-peer network protocol. The latter part will explain and expand on more details of the technical solutions introduced earlier. Through this lesson, you will gain a general understanding of the main technical concepts and implementation principles involved in the Bitcoin system.
Lesson 3 | Basic Data Structures of Bitcoin
This lesson will introduce the most basic yet important data structures in the Bitcoin system: addresses, transactions, and blocks. Understanding these concepts, especially the UTXO model, is crucial for grasping the principles of the Bitcoin system.
Lesson 4 | Bitcoin's Script System
This lesson will focus on explaining Bitcoin's script system, including the types of scripts and the usage process of the script system in Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin's script system is the prototype of programming blockchains and has paved the way for the emergence of the so-called "smart contract platforms."
Lesson 5 | Other Important Details in the Bitcoin System
This lesson is the final one introducing the Bitcoin system, where we will supplement some important details that were not mentioned in previous lessons, including BIPs, SPV nodes, segregated witness, and more.
Lesson 6 | What is Ethereum
This lesson marks the beginning of the Ethereum series, starting from the white paper, based on the definition of Ethereum as "the next generation of smart contract and decentralized application platform," focusing on explaining these two new concepts—smart contracts and decentralized applications.
Lesson 7 | Overview of the Ethereum Protocol
This lesson will also be based on the Ethereum white paper, introducing the overall design philosophy and technical solutions of Ethereum. To understand Ethereum, one must first grasp the pioneering significance of Ethereum based on Bitcoin. This lesson will focus on explaining how Ethereum's technical design enables it to become a "smart contract platform" capable of performing "general-purpose" computing tasks.
Lesson 8 | Basic Data Structures of Ethereum
This lesson will begin to introduce the technical details of the Ethereum protocol. First, we will explain several foundational concepts and the most important basic data structures in the Ethereum protocol, and combine these foundational data to explain many details within the Ethereum protocol. Finally, we will also guide you through the entire process of block creation and validation in the Ethereum protocol, which is the consensus process of the Ethereum protocol.
Lesson 9 | Execution of Transactions in Ethereum
In Ethereum, transactions run independently on all miner nodes and full nodes in the network, modifying the state data maintained independently by the client locally. This lesson will provide a detailed introduction to how a transaction is executed on the client node.
Lesson 10 | Execution Model of Ethereum
This lesson will introduce Ethereum's greatest innovation—the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the related details and main principles of Ethereum's "execution model," allowing you to understand how Ethereum executes user-defined computing tasks.
Lesson 11 | Other Important Details in Ethereum
This lesson will conclude the introduction to the basic principles of Ethereum, mainly supplementing some previously unmentioned or not specifically explained but relatively important details, including random numbers and oracles, interactions between Ethereum and external applications, Ethereum's Whisper protocol, and more.
Lesson 12 | UTXO Model and Account Model
This lesson will mainly summarize the key concepts and design philosophies of the UTXO model used by Bitcoin and the account model used by Ethereum, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages.
Lesson 13 | Future Directions of Bitcoin and Ethereum
As the final lesson of this series, this lesson will introduce the future development directions of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
III. Purchase Information
The course fee is 19 yuan, granting 5 years of course access.
This column is a virtual product, delivered in the form of text + audio, and is non-refundable once subscribed.
After successful subscription, please add Xiao T's WeChat ID as prompted, reply with the course name, and you will be invited to join the study group within 24 hours through your friend request.
It is recommended to learn through the "Xiao E Tong" WeChat mini-program or Web platform. https://hkr.h5.xeknow.com/s/VRdMD
