Building Blockchain Apps

Description

A Developer's Guide to Blockchain Programming Fundamentals Blockchain development is entering a period of explosive growth, as real applications gain traction throughout multiple industries and cryptocurrencies earn greater acceptance throughout the financial sector. Blockchain represents one of the most promising opportunities for developers to advance and succeed. Building Blockchain Apps is an accessible guide to today’s most advanced and robust blockchain programming models and architectures. Building on his pioneering experience, Michael Juntao Yuan covers a wide range of blockchain application development paradigms. The book starts with a concise introduction to blockchain and smart contract technologies. It then guides you through application development on Ethereum-compatible smart contract platforms. Ethereum is the largest and most robust blockchain ecosystem in the world. Coverage includes Ethereum topics such as tools, application frameworks, internal data structures, external data interfaces, and future roadmap An introduction to new blockchain data protocol based on ElasticSearch, which provides insights into the current state of smart contracts and enables new application designs How to build an application-specific smart contract protocol by modifying and customizing the open source Ethereum Virtual Machine and its programming language tools How to extend and support language features that are most suitable for particular kinds of smart contracts (e.g., smart contracts for e-commerce marketplaces) with the open source Lity project How to customize and change the blockchain consensus layer beneath the application layer via the popular Tendermint and Cosmos SDK frameworks A survey of cryptocurrency and financial topics from the developers’ point of view, providing an analytical framework for valuating cryptocurrencies and explaining the roles of crypto exchanges Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Acknowledgments About the Author Part I: Introduction 1 An Introduction to Blockchain The Blockchain The Collaborative Ledger Cryptocurrency Smart Contracts A Trustless Network New Ways of Collaborating The Fat Protocol In Code We Trust Conclusion 2 Reaching Consensus What Is Blockchain Consensus? Proof of Work (PoW) Proof of Stake (PoS) Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) Conclusion 3 Your First Blockchain App Smart Contract Front-End HTML JavaScript and web3.js In Action Share Your Dapp Conclusion Part II: An Introduction to Ethereum 4 Getting Started The BUIDL Way Ethereum Mainnet Ethereum Classic Mainnet CyberMiles Mainnet The Hard Way Metamask Wallet Remix Web3 Conclusion 5 Concepts and Tools Ethereum Wallet and Basic Concepts Etherscan The TestRPC Interacting with Ethereum via GETH Interacting with Ethereum via web3 Running an Ethereum Node Running a Private Ethereum Network Conclusion 6 Smart Contracts “Hello, World!” Again Learning Smart Contract Programming Consensus vs. Nonconsensus Code Data Structures Function Parameters and Return Values Payable Functions Calling Other Contracts Building and Deploying the Smart Contract Solidity Tools The BUIDL Integrated Development Environment (IDE) The Remix IDE Truffle Framework Calling Smart Contract Functions The BUIDL IDE The Remix IDE GETH Console A New Language More Smart Contract Languages Conclusion 7 Decentralized Applications (Dapps) Dapp Stack The web3 Library External Services Dapp Showcases Uniswap CryptoKitties Gambling Games Interactive Dapps Conclusion 8 Alternatives to Dapps JavaScript The Full-Node Wallet Raw Transactions Python and Others Conclusion Part III: Ethereum in Depth 9 Inside Ethereum What Is Blockchain State? Ethereum State Data Structure Trie (or Tree) Standard Trie Patricia Trie Similarities between the Trie and Patricia Trie Main Difference between the Trie and Patricia Trie Modified Merkle Patricia Trie Trie Structure in Ethereum State Trie : The One and Only Storage Trie : Where the Contract Data Lives Transaction Trie : One per Block Concrete Examples of Tries in Ethereum Analyzing the Ethereum Database Get the Data Decoding the Data Read and Write the State LevelDB Conclusion 10 Blockchain Data Services Blockchain Explorers Harvesting Data Transactions and Accounts Awards Off-Chain Identities Inside Smart Contracts Query Interface SQL Query JSON Query GraphQL Google BigQuery What’s Next? Conclusion 11 Smart Contract Search Engine Introduction to the Smart Contract Search Engine Getting Started with a Smart Contract Search Engine The FairPlay Dapp Example A Modular Architecture Using the Smart Contract Search Engine Use Cases Crypto Assets DeFi Gaming Conclusion 12 Smart Contract Security and Best Practices Major Ethereum Smart Contract Hacks and Vulnerabilities Decentralized Autonomous Organization Hack BEC Token Hack The Parity Wallet Hack FOMO3D and LastWinner Dapp Hack Unknowns and Beyond Best Practices for Securing Smart Contracts Expert Manual Auditing Formal Verification Sandbox Tools Conclusion 13 The Future of Ethereum Ethereum 1.0 Privacy Consensus Scalability Token Improvements Beyond Ethereum 1.0 Sharding Zero-Knowledge Proofs Ethereum 2.0 The Beacon Chain eWASM Delivery Phases of Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 Phase 1 Phase 2 Post–Ethereum 2.0 Innovation Conclusion Part IV: Building Application Protocols 14 Extending the Ethereum Protocol Fully Compatible, Yet Faster Smart Enhancements to the EVM Trusted Oracles Secure Random Numbers Alternative Gas Fees Safety First Conclusion 15 Extending Ethereum Tools Smart Contract Tools Venus Wallet Europa IDE The lityc Compiler and Analysis Tool Dapp Tools web3-cmt CyberMiles App Conclusion 16 Example Dapps Case Study 1: Valentines The Valentines Smart Contract The JavaScript Dapp Case Study 2: WeBet WeBet Smart Contract WeBet JavaScript Application Dapp Off-Chain Operations Conclusion 17 Business Rules and Contracts An Example Rules Language Rete Algorithm Rule Attribute Rule Filters Rule Actions Rule Inheritance Working Memory More Business Examples Insurance Claim Taxes Product Combos Conclusion 18 Building an Application-Specific EVM Using libENI Functions The String Reversing Example The RSA Example The Scrypt Example Writing a libENI Function Parsing Arguments Estimating Gas Executing the Function Mapping to libENI Function Name Deploying the libENI Function CyberMiles Governance Conclusion Part V: Building Your Own Blockchain 19 Getting Started with Tendermint How It Works It Works as Follows Set Up a Node Set Up a Network Conclusion 20 The Business Logic The Protocol Consensus on the Block Consensus on the Transactions Getting Information A Sample Application Java Implementation GO Implementation The Cosmos SDK Conclusion 21 Creating a Blockchain Client Overview of the Approach The Sample Application PHP Java Conclusion Part VI: Cryptoeconomics 22 The Cryptoeconomics of Token Design Network Utility Tokens Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) ZCash (ZEC) Application Utility Tokens Security Tokens The DAO Token Funds Token Valuation Utility Tokens Design Considerations An Alternative Approach Advanced Topics Nonmonetary Pricing Stable Coins Conclusion 23 Initial Coin Offerings A Brief History Utility of an ICO Facilitation of the Blockchain Project Fundraising ICO vs. Traditional Equity Financing Entry Barrier to Investment Entry Barrier to Fundraising Regulation/Paperwork Liquidity after Fundraiser Community Participation Risk Market Size Evaluating an ICO Project Project Team Fundraising Structure Token Distribution Table Community Legal Framework ICO Participation Risk Hacking Risk Project Development Risk Team Risk Conclusion 24 Cryptocurrency Exchanges Exchange Types Fiat Currency Exchanges Tokens-Only Exchanges Security Token Exchanges Decentralization Products and Services Conclusion A: Getting Started with CyberMiles Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Z