Mastering Blockchain

Imran Bashir

• Verlag: Packt Publishing
• Jahr: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781787129290
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Computer Science
• Thema: Databases

Distributed ledgers, decentralization and smart contracts explainedAbout This Book• Get to grips with the underlying technical principles and implementations of blockchain.• Build powerful applications using Ethereum to secure transactions and create smart contracts.• Explore cryptography, mine cryptocurrencies, and solve scalability issues with this comprehensive guide.Who This Book Is ForThis book appeals to those who wish to build fast, highly secure, transactional applications. This book is for those who are familiar with the concept of blockchain and are comfortable with a programming language.What You Will Learn• Master the theoretical and technical foundations of blockchain technology• Fully comprehend the concept of decentralization, its impact and relationship with blockchain technology• Experience how cryptography is used to secure data with practical examples• Grasp the inner workings of blockchain and relevant mechanisms behind Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies• Understand theoretical foundations of smart contracts• Identify and examine applications of blockchain technology outside of currencies• Investigate alternate blockchain solutions including Hyperledger, Corda, and many more• Explore research topics and future scope of blockchain technologyIn DetailBlockchain is a distributed database that enables permanent, transparent, and secure storage of data. The blockchain technology is the backbone of cryptocurrency – in fact, it's the shared public ledger upon which the entire Bitcoin network relies – and it's gaining popularity with people who work in finance, government, and the arts.Blockhchain technology uses cryptography to keep data secure. This book gives a detailed description of this leading technology and its implementation in the real world.This book begins with the technical foundations of blockchain, teaching you the fundamentals of 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 explore different blockchain solutions and get an exclusive preview into Hyperledger, an upcoming blockchain solution from IBM and the Linux Foundation. You will also be shown how to implement blockchain beyond currencies, scability with blockchain, and the future scope of this fascinating and powerful technology.Style and approachThis comprehensive guide allows you to build smart blockchain applications and explore the power of this database. The book will let you quickly brush up on the basics of the blockchain database, followed by advanced implementations of blockchain in currency, smart contracts, decentralization, and so on.

Mastering Blockchain

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Mastering Blockchain

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

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First published: March 2017

Production reference: 1090317

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78712-544-5

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author Imran Bashir	Copy Editor Laxmi Subramanian
Reviewer Daniel Kraft	Project Coordinator Shweta H Birwatkar
Commissioning Editor Veena Pagare	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Ajith Menon	Indexer Pratik Shirodkar
Content Development Sumeet Sawant Amrita Noronha	Graphics Tania Dutta
Technical Editor Nilesh Sawakhande	Production Coordinator Shraddha Falebhai

About the Author

Imran Bashir has a M.Sc. in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London, and has a background in software development, solution architecture, infrastructure management, and IT service management. He is also a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and British Computer Society (BCS). Imran has sixteen years of experience in the public and financial sectors. He worked on large scale IT projects for public sector before moving to financial services industry. Since then he has worked in various technical roles for different financial companies in Europe’s financial capital, London. He is currently working for an investment bank in London as Vice President in the technology department.

I would like to thank the talented team at Packt including Ajith Menon, Nilesh Sawakhande, Sumeet Sawant, and Tushar Gupta, who provided prompt guidance and very valuable feedback throughout this project. I am also extremely thankful to the reviewer, Daniel Kraft, who provided constructive and very useful feedback that helped tremendously to improve the material in this book.

I thank my wife and children for putting up with my all-night and weekend-long writing sessions.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, whose blessings on me have made everything possible for me.

About the Reviewer

Daniel Kraft studied mathematics and physics, and holds a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Graz in Austria. He has been involved in development with cryptocurrencies since 2013, has been the lead developer and chief scientist for both Namecoin and Huntercoin since 2014, and has published two research papers about cryptocurrency in peer-reviewed journals. He works as a software engineer and is a co-founder of Crypto Realities Ltd, a start-up that works on building decentralised multi-player game worlds with blockchain technology.

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Preface

This book has one goal: to provide a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of blockchain technology. This book contains all the material that is required to fully understand blockchain technology. After reading this book, readers will be able to develop a deep understanding of inner workings of blockchain technology and will be able to develop blockchain applications. This book covers all topics relevant to blockchain technology, including cryptography, cryptocurrenices, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various other platforms and tools used for blockchain development.

It is recommended that readers have a basic understanding of computer science and basic programming experience in order to benefit fully from this book. However, if that is not the case then still this book can be read easily, as relevant background material is provided where necessary.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Blockchain 101, introduces the basic concepts of distributed computing on which blockchain technology is based. It also covers history, definitions, features, types, and benefits of blockchains along with consensus mechanisms that are at the core of blockchain technology.

Chapter 2, Decentralization, covers the concepts of decentralization and its relationship with blockchain technology. Various methods and platforms that can be used to decentralize a process or system have also been introduced.

Chapter 3, Cryptography and Technical Foundations, introduces the theoretical foundations cryptography, which is necessary to fully understand blockchain technology. Concepts such as public and private key cryptography, with practical examples, are included. Finally, an introduction to financial markets is also included as there are many interesting use cases for blockchain technology in the financial sector.

Chapter 4, Bitcoin, covers Bitcoin, the first and largest blockchain. It introduces technical concepts related to b...