Blockchain Basics

This chapter will serve as a warm-up session about blockchain before we dive into Ethereum and smart contract development. To really appreciate blockchain, we must understand the two pillars on which blockchain, as a technology, is firmly grounded: distributed systems and cryptography. Once we have tackled these two core concepts, we will try to understand blockchain from two different perspectives: one as a software developer and another as a trader of financial instruments. Then, we'll probe into the internal logical architecture of a block in blockchain, focusing on the bitcoin block structure and get a gentle introduction to the mining and forking process.

We conclude the chapter by discussing the evolution of blockchain as a technology in recent years, three generations of blockchain technology, and the current position of blockchain on the gartner hype cycle.

After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

• Understand the foundation of blockchain technology
• Appreciate blockchain as a developer and a trader
• Discuss the basic structure of a bitcoin block
• Know about blockchain mining and forking and understand the evolution, generations, and hype surrounding blockchain