Mastering Blockchain
Copyright 2017 Packt Publishing
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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 Europes 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
, 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.
, 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.
, 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.