Preface

Blockchain is a distributed database that enables permanent, transparent, and secure storage of data. The blockchain technology uses cryptography to keep data secure. This book is the perfect entry point to the world of decentralized databases.

The book will take you on a journey through the blockchain database, followed by advanced implementations of the concept of blockchain. You will learn about the basics of Bitcoin and their technical operations. As you make your way through the book, you will gain insight into this leading technology and its implementation in the real world. You will also cover the technical foundations of blockchain, learn about the fundamentals of cryptography, and see how it keeps data secure. In the concluding chapters, you'll get to grips with the mechanisms behind cryptocurrencies.

By the end of this book, you will have learned about decentralized digital money, advanced blockchain concepts, and Bitcoin and blockchain security.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to quickly understand and expand their knowledge of how blockchain and Bitcoin work and how they are applied commercially. No prior knowledge of blockchain and Bitcoin is required.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to Blockchain and Bitcoin, will give us a step-by-step introduction to the essentials of Bitcoin and
blockchain. It will cover the basics of this unique technology, which is developing greatly. We will cover the fundamentals of cryptography and cryptocurrency, an introduction and history of Bitcoin and blockchain, its structure, the various types of blockchain, and more. This chapter will also provide the bigger picture of what makes Bitcoin and blockchain the next great innovation after the internet.

Chapter 2, Fundamentals of Decentralization, will enable us to understand the various situations in which we can use decentralization and blockchain for the benefit of society and individuals. Since this technology is completely new and undergoing changes, we hope to see a better world tomorrow that includes security and transparency while eliminating all the downsides of the technology. Towards the end of the fundamentals of decentralization, we will see how decentralization is going to impact the present and future world in a better way.

Chapter 3, Advanced Blockchain Concepts, will cover some of the advanced concepts used in blockchain and various consensus protocols used in various blockchain implementations. We will look at some of the key challenges in privacy on blockchains and how solutions such as ZKP can help safeguard privacy. Then we will discuss smart contracts, which is one of the core building blocks of blockchain: how they are written, what they are, and how they are executed.

Chapter 4, Bitcoin and Blockchain Security, will start with an introduction to the fundamentals of cryptography, and it is using cryptocurrency. We will look into the history of Bitcoin, the structure of a blockchain, and the various types of blockchain. We will get familiar with the decentralization that sits at the core of blockchain. We will get insight on how decentralization works, its pros and cons, what all can be decentralized, and how it is impacting the world today. We will also get a deeper understanding of the advanced concepts of blockchain, such as its structure, architecture, and the protocols used. Finally, this chapter will enable us to understand the features and safety provided by the various crypto wallets. We will look at how hardware wallets work, some types of physical coin, the chances of survival of the various cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Altcoin, and we will try to understand how to balance and diversify risks related to investing in crypto tokens.

To get the most out of this book

This book will give you an overview of in-depth knowledge of blockchain and Bitcoin. You need not have any prior knowledge before exploring this book. You will get well versed in how exactly the blockchain technology is implemented in today's world, and how it enables permanent, transparent, and secure data storage. This is a perfect entry point to decentralized digital databases. By the end of this book, you will know all the basic concepts and challenges of the blockchain technology, how this technology helps secure your cryptocurrency, the concepts around decentralized digital money, and also blockchain and Bitcoin security.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "This template creates a form whose superclass is QWidget rather than QDialog."

A block of code is set as follows:

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QDialog, QApplication
from demoSignalSlot1 import *
class MyForm(QDialog):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.ui = Ui_Dialog()
        self.ui.setupUi(self)
        self.show()
if __name__=="__main__":
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    w = MyForm()
    w.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

[default]
exten => s,1,Dial(Zap/1|30)
exten => s,2,Voicemail(u100)
exten => s,102,Voicemail(b100)
exten => i,1,Voicemail(s0)

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

C:\Pythonbook\PyQt5>pyuic5 demoLineEdit.ui -o demoLineEdit.py

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "The amount the slider handle moves can be specified via the pageStep property."

Warnings or important notes appear like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Sections

In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it..., How it works..., There's more..., and See also).

To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, use these sections as follows:

Getting ready

This section tells you what to expect in the recipe and describes how to set up any software or anypreliminary settings required for the recipe.

How to do it...

This section contains the steps required to follow the recipe.

How it works...

This section usually consists of a detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section.

There's more...

This section consists of additional information about the recipe in order to make you moreknowledgeable about the recipe.

See also

This section provides helpful links to other useful information for the recipe.

Get in touch

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