Tiana Laurence - Blockchain For Dummies

Blockchain For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936813

ISBN 978-1-119-36559-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-36561-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-36560-0 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

Welcome to Blockchain For Dummies! If you want to find out what blockchains are and the basics of how to use them, this is the book for you. Many people think blockchains are difficult to understand. They might also think that blockchains are just about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but theyre are so much more. Anyone can master the basics of blockchains.

In this book, you find helpful advice for navigating the blockchain world and cryptocurrencies that run them. You also find practical step-by-step tutorials that will build your understanding of how blockchains work and where they add value. You dont need a background in programming, economics, or world affairs to understand this book, but I do touch on all these subjects because blockchain technology intersects all of them.

This book explains the basics of blockchains, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies. You probably picked up this book because youve heard about blockchains, know theyre important, but have no idea what they are, how they work, or why you should care. This book answers all these questions in easy-to-understand terms.

This book is a bit different than just about any other blockchain book on the market. It provides a survey of all the key blockchains in the public market, how they work, what they do, and something useful you can try with them today.

This book also covers the landscape of blockchain technology and points out some of the key things to be aware of for your own blockchain projects. Here, you find out how to install an Ethereum wallet, create and execute a smart contract, make entries into Bitcoin and Factom, and earn cryptocurrencies.

You dont have to read the book cover to cover. Just flip to the subject that youre interested in.

Finally, within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If youre reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as its noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesnt exist. If youre reading this as an e-book, youve got it easy just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

I dont make many assumptions about you and your experience with cryptocurrency, programing, and legal matters but I do assume the following:

• You have a computer and access to the Internet.
• You know the basics of how to use your computer and the Internet.
• You know how to navigate through menus within programs.
• Youre new to blockchain and you arent a skilled programmer. Of course, if you are a skilled programmer, you can still get a lot out of this book you just may be able to breeze past some of the step-by-step guidelines.

Throughout this book, I use icons in the margin to draw your attention to certain kinds of information. Heres what the icons mean:

The Tip icon marks tips and shortcuts that you can use to make blockchains easier to use.

The Remember icon marks the information thats especially important to know the stuff youll want to commit to memory. To siphon off the most important information in each chapter, just skim through these icons.

The Technical Stuff icon marks information of a highly technical nature that you can skip over without missing the main point of the subject at hand.