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Building Blockchain Apps, 1st edition

Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (December 10, 2019) © 2020

  • Michael Yuan

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Building on his pioneering experience, Michael Yuan introduces today’s most popular blockchain development paradigm, Ethereum Smart Contract programming. Yuan guides you through working with Dapps, ERC20 tokens, programming for ICOs, and more. Next, he introduces next-generation Tendermint / Cosmos programming models and software architectures that overcome key limitations of previous blockchain environments, reducing congestion and enabling unprecedented scalability. Finally, he introduces potential blockchain applications in key sectors, including Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Finance, Exchanges, and Healthcare.

Students will:

  • Master cutting-edge blockchain development technologies including Tendermint and Cosmos
  • Build decentralized blockchain applications for e-commerce, marketplaces, finance, supply chains, healthcare, content distribution, and more
  • Help financial institutions enable virtual currencies and achieve revolutionary process improvements
  • Preview next-generation techniques that transcend the limitations of today’s cryptocurrencies
    • Foreword xvii
    Acknowledgments xix
    About the Author xxi

    Part I: Introduction 1

    Chapter 1: An Introduction to Blockchain 3
    The Blockchain 3
    The Collaborative Ledger 4
    Cryptocurrency 5
    Smart Contracts 5
    A Trustless Network 6
    New Ways of Collaborating 7
    The Fat Protocol 7
    In Code We Trust 8
    Conclusion 9

    Chapter 2: Reaching Consensus 11
    What Is Blockchain Consensus? 11
    Proof of Work (PoW) 12
    Proof of Stake (PoS) 12
    Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) 14
    Conclusion 14

    Chapter 3: Your First Blockchain App 15
    Smart Contract 16
    Front-End HTML 19
    JavaScript and web3.js 19
    In Action 21
    Share Your Dapp 22
    Conclusion 22

    Part II: An Introduction to Ethereum 23

    Chapter 4: Getting Started 25
    The BUIDL Way 26
    The Hard Way 29
    Conclusion 41

    Chapter 5: Concepts and Tools 43
    Ethereum Wallet and Basic Concepts 43
    Etherscan 45
    The TestRPC 46
    Interacting with Ethereum via GETH 48
    Interacting with Ethereum via web3 49
    Running an Ethereum Node 50
    Running a Private Ethereum Network 51
    Conclusion 53

    Chapter 6: Smart Contracts 55
    “Hello, World!” Again 55
    Learning Smart Contract Programming 57
    Building and Deploying the Smart Contract 59
    Calling Smart Contract Functions 65
    A New Language 68
    Conclusion 72

    Chapter 7: Decentralized Applications (Dapps) 73
    Dapp Stack 74
    Dapp Showcases 76
    Conclusion 79

    Chapter 8: Alternatives to Dapps 81
    JavaScript 81
    Python and Others 85
    Conclusion 86

    Part III: Ethereum in Depth 87

    Chapter 9: Inside Ethereum 89
    What Is Blockchain State? 89
    Ethereum State 92
    Trie (or Tree) 93
    Trie Structure in Ethereum 98
    Analyzing the Ethereum Database 100
    Conclusion 104

    Chapter 10: Blockchain Data Services 105
    Blockchain Explorers 105
    Harvesting Data 109
    Query Interface 115
    What’s Next? 119
    Conclusion 120

    Chapter 11: Smart Contract Search Engine 121
    Introduction to the Smart Contract Search Engine 121
    Getting Started with a Smart Contract Search Engine 123
    The FairPlay Dapp Example 128
    Use Cases 131
    Conclusion 132

    Chapter 12: Smart Contract Security and Best Practices 133
    Major Ethereum Smart Contract Hacks and Vulnerabilities 134
    Best Practices for Securing Smart Contracts 141
    Conclusion 143

    Chapter 13: The Future of Ethereum 145
    Ethereum 1.0 146
    Beyond Ethereum 1.0 150
    Ethereum 2.0 152
    Delivery Phases of Ethereum 2.0 154
    Post—Ethereum 2.0 Innovation 155
    Conclusion 155

    Part IV: Building Application Protocols 157

    Chapter 14: Extending the Ethereum Protocol 159
    Fully Compatible, Yet Faster 160
    Smart Enhancements to the EVM 160
    Safety First 165
    Conclusion 165

    Chapter 15: Extending Ethereum Tools 167
    Smart Contract Tools 168
    Dapp Tools 175
    Conclusion 178

    Chapter 16: Example Dapps 179
    Case Study 1: Valentines 179
    Case Study 2: WeBet 184
    Conclusion 201

    Chapter 17: Business Rules and Contracts 203
    An Example 204
    Rules Language 206
    More Business Examples 210
    Conclusion 214

    Chapter 18: Building an Application-Specific EVM 215
    Using libENI Functions 216
    Writing a libENI Function 222
    Deploying the libENI Function 224
    Conclusion 226

    Part V: Building Your Own Blockchain 227

    Chapter 19: Getting Started with Tendermint 229
    How It Works 229
    It Works as Follows 231
    Set Up a Node 231
    Set Up a Network 235
    Conclusion 236

    Chapter 20: The Business Logic 237
    The Protocol 238
    A Sample Application 240
    Java Implementation 242
    GO Implementation 247
    The Cosmos SDK 250
    Conclusion 252

    Chapter 21: Creating a Blockchain Client 253
    Overview of the Approach 254
    The Sample Application 255
    PHP 256
    Java 258
    Conclusion 260

    Part VI: Cryptoeconomics 261

    Chapter 22: The Cryptoeconomics of Token Design 263
    Network Utility Tokens 263
    Application Utility Tokens 266
    Security Tokens 266
    Token Valuation 267
    Advanced Topics 271
    Conclusion 274

    Chapter 23: Initial Coin Offerings 275
    A Brief History 275
    Utility of an ICO 276
    ICO vs. Traditional Equity Financing 278
    Evaluating an ICO Project 280
    ICO Participation Risk 282
    Conclusion 283

    Chapter 24: Cryptocurrency Exchanges 285
    Exchange Types 285
    Decentralization 287
    Products and Services 288
    Conclusion 289

    Appendix: Getting Started with CyberMiles 291

    Index 295
    Dr. Michael Juntao Yuan is the CEO of Second State Inc., a VC-funded startup that builds and commercializes blockchain infrastructure software. He is also a cofounder of the CyberMiles Foundation, which focuses on building a decentralized e-commerce ecosystem on the CyberMiles public blockchain. Dr. Yuan has extensive experience with the development and commercialization of open source software. He was an early employee at JBoss and was a product manager at Red Hat. He is also the principal investigator of multiple research awards from the National Institutes of Health. He received a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Texas at Austin.

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