Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps
- 3h 38m
- Daniel Drescher
- Apress
- 2017
In 25 concise steps, you will learn the basics of blockchain technology. No mathematical formulas, program code, or computer science jargon are used. No previous knowledge in computer science, mathematics, programming, or cryptography is required. Terminology is explained through pictures, analogies, and metaphors.
This book bridges the gap that exists between purely technical books about the blockchain and purely business-focused books. It does so by explaining both the technical concepts that make up the blockchain and their role in business-relevant applications.
What You'll Learn
- What the blockchain is
- Why it is needed and what problem it solves
- Why there is so much excitement about the blockchain and its potential
- Major components and their purpose
- How various components of the blockchain work and interact
- Limitations, why they exist, and what has been done to overcome them
- Major application scenarios
Who This Book Is For
Everyone who wants to get a general idea of what blockchain technology is, how it works, and how it will potentially change the financial system as we know it
About the Author
Daniel Drescher is an experienced banking professional who has held positions in electronic security trading in a range of banks. His recent activities have focused on automation, machine learning and big data in the context of security trading. Amongst others, Daniel holds a Doctorate in Econometrics from the Technical University of Berlin and an MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Oxford.
In this Book
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Thinking in Layers and Aspects: Analyzing Systems by Separating them into Layers and Aspects
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Seeing the Big Picture: Software Architecture and its Relation to the Blockchain
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Recognizing the Potential: How Peer-to-Peer Systems may Change the World
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Discovering the Core Problem: How to Herd a Group of Independent Computers
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Disambiguating the Term: Four Ways to Define the Blockchain
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Understanding the Nature of Ownership: Why we know What we Own
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Spending Money Twice: Exploiting a Vulnerability of Distributed Peer-to-Peer Systems
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Planning the Blockchain: The Basic Concepts of Managing Ownership with the Blockchain
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Documenting Ownership: Using the Course of History as Evidence for the Current State of Ownership
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Hashing Data: Identifying Data from their Digital Fingerprint
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Hashing in the Real World: A Tale of Comparing Data and Creating Computational Puzzles
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Identifying and Protecting User Accounts: A gentle Introduction to Cryptography
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Authorizing Transactions: Utilizing the Digital Equivalent to Handwritten Signatures
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Storing Transaction Data: Building and Maintaining a History of Transaction Data
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Using the Data Store: Chaining Blocks of Data
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Protecting the Data Store: Discovering the Power of Immutability
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Distributing the Data Store Among Peers: When Computers Gossip
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Verifying and Adding Transactions: Ruling a Group of Computers with Carrot and Stick
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Choosing a Transaction History: Let Computers Vote with their Feet
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Paying for Integrity: Neither Integrity nor the Creation of Trust is Without Costs
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Bringing the Pieces Together: More than Just the Sum of its Pieces
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Seeing the Limitations: Even a Perfect Machine has Limitations
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Reinventing the Blockchain: The Emergence of Four Different Kinds of Blockchain
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Using the Blockchain: A Tool with Thousands of Applications
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Summarizing and Going Further: Further Developments, Alternatives, and The Future of the Blockchain
