Introducing Blockchain Applications

Book excerpt: Deepen your understanding of blockchain technology and develop your own blockchain applications. This book provides a thorough review of distribution-based systems on blockchain technology, starting from the fundamental concepts that underlie it, all the way through the implementation of a blockchain network for business purposes. Author Joseph Thachil George begins by introducing you to blockchain and some basic concepts of technology, including distributed systems, systems of systems, cyber-physical systems, the Byzantine Consensus, the CAP theorem, and cryptographic techniques. Next, he analyzes the structure of blocks and smart contracts and the mother of all blockchain platforms, Bitcoin. That sets the stage for an examination of transaction structure, validation, and flow, from creation to registration in the ledger and structure of the blocks, the Nakamoto consensus, and finally forks. From there, you’ll experience a deep dive into Ethereum; including the concepts of Gas and Message, smart contracts and the Ethereum virtual machine. From there, you’ll learn about the Ethereum consensus protocol, Ethereum Casper, and the Ethereum Proof-of-Stake algorithm. You’ll then see how blockchain can be connected to a distributed system, followed by a demonstration of how you can model a distributed system using Blockly4SoS and Kilobots. The concluding chapters offer a practical example that combines distributed systems with blockchain technology. After reading this book, you will understand how to implement blockchain technology in a distributed system and be able to leverage this knowledge in your own projects. What You Will Learn Learn the concept of blockchains by way of a practical example Grasp the connection between distributed systems and blockchain technology Learn the design of blockchain with hyperledger fabric Learn the design of cyber-physical systems in a distributed environment Who Is This Book For Developers who are enthusiastic about the design and implementation of distributed systems.