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Introducing Ethereum and Solidity: Foundations of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Programming for Beginners
Learn how to use Solidity and the Ethereum project - second only to Bitcoin in market capitalization. Blockchain protocols are taking the world by storm, and the Ethereum project, with its Turing-complete scripting language Solidity, has rapidly become a front-runner. This book presents the blockchain phenomenon in context; then situates Ethereum in a world pioneered by Bitcoin.
See why professionals and non-professionals alike are honing their skills in smart contract patterns and distributed application development. You'll review the fundamentals of programming and networking, alongside its introduction to the new discipline of crypto-economics. You'll then deploy smart contracts of your own, and learn how they can serve as a back-end for JavaScript and HTML applications on the Web.
Many Solidity tutorials out there today have the same flaw: they are written for "advanced" JavaScript developers who want to transfer their skills to a blockchain environment. Introducing Ethereum and Solidity is accessible to technology professionals and enthusiasts of all levels. You'll find exciting sample code that can move forward real world assets in both the academic and the corporate arenas. Find out now why this book is a powerful gateway for creative technologists of all types, from concept to deployment.
What You'll Learn
See how Ethereum (and other cryptocurrencies) work
Compare distributed apps (dapps) to web apps
Write Ethereum smart contracts in Solidity
Connect Ethereum smart contracts to your HTML/CSS/JavaScript web applications
Deploy your own dapp, coin, and blockchain
Work with basic and intermediate smart contracts
Who This Book Is For
Anyone who is curious about Ethereum or has some familiarity with computer science Product managers, CTOs, and experienced JavaScript programmers
Experts will find the advanced sample projects in this book rewarding because of the power of Solidity
See why professionals and non-professionals alike are honing their skills in smart contract patterns and distributed application development. You'll review the fundamentals of programming and networking, alongside its introduction to the new discipline of crypto-economics. You'll then deploy smart contracts of your own, and learn how they can serve as a back-end for JavaScript and HTML applications on the Web.
Many Solidity tutorials out there today have the same flaw: they are written for "advanced" JavaScript developers who want to transfer their skills to a blockchain environment. Introducing Ethereum and Solidity is accessible to technology professionals and enthusiasts of all levels. You'll find exciting sample code that can move forward real world assets in both the academic and the corporate arenas. Find out now why this book is a powerful gateway for creative technologists of all types, from concept to deployment.
What You'll Learn
See how Ethereum (and other cryptocurrencies) work
Compare distributed apps (dapps) to web apps
Write Ethereum smart contracts in Solidity
Connect Ethereum smart contracts to your HTML/CSS/JavaScript web applications
Deploy your own dapp, coin, and blockchain
Work with basic and intermediate smart contracts
Who This Book Is For
Anyone who is curious about Ethereum or has some familiarity with computer science Product managers, CTOs, and experienced JavaScript programmers
Experts will find the advanced sample projects in this book rewarding because of the power of Solidity
208 pages, Paperback
Published March 18, 2017
92 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 11, 2017
I was very enthusiastic about that book, but unfortunately I have to say that once I started reading this book my enthusiasm turned into disappointment and once I reached the end of the book my disappointment even turned into even more disappointment. I cannot recommend reading this book and I really wondering why it received so many good reviews.
Here are the reasons why I don't recommend this book:
1. It is messy
Problem: The author starts explaining something in one place and suddenly stops. Then some chapters later he continues and again suddenly stops just to continue some pages later. This causes a lot of disruptions when trying to understand a concept in one go.
Example: Cryptography and cryptographic signatures are introduced on page 7 without explaining cryptographic hash functions. They are finally mentioned on page 55 that is much too late, because one needs to understand them in order to understand cryptographic signatures.
2. Crucial information is just missing
Problem: A heading highlights an important term, but no explanation is given in the following paragraph.
Example: “Merkle Patricia Trees� Sub-Heading on page 122 but the following paragraph does not tell you anything about that data structure. Just visit Wikipedia in order to see that this data structure needs some good explanation in order to be understood. Unfortunately this book does not help you in understanding Merkle Patricia Trees.
3. Copy & Paste from the Internet
Problem: Instead of providing original new explanations the author just did copy&paste from the Internet.
Example: On page 118 the section titled “How Ethereum Uses Stale Blocks� only contains information available in the Internet. Unfortunately this information is not sufficient. If you really understand the GHOST or Stellar protocol with that information you are genius and I am wondering why you bought that book in the first place.
4. It is incoherent
Problem: The chapter and section headings are no coherent with the provided chapter / section content, leaving the reader confused.
Example: On page 48 the section titled “What are Virtual Machines Exactly� has the subsections: “The role of the ethereum protocol in banking� and “Anyone can make a banking platform�. What do these subsection have to do with virtual machines? The same happens in chapter 4 “Solidity programming� on pages 69 to 88. Subheadings are: “Global Banking Made (almost) Real� and “Complementary Currency�. Again: What have these topics to do with the programming language solidity? The remainder of the chapter 4 is not good at all. Wasting pages and pages on niche topics without providing any systematic introduction into Solidity.
5. It is wasting time on trivialities and common places
Problem: The author wastes valuable space of the book and valuable reading time of its readers for absolute trivialities.
Example: On page 72 the section titled “Learning to Program the EVM� starts with a discussion about very basic common places like “Sometimes it’s easier to learn a new habit than to break old one.� Then the author spends another five paragraphs explaining what it means without making any substantial point.
6. It is inconsistent
Problem: The book is inconsistent. One the one hand the author treats his readers as they are absolute beginners that need explanations even for the most basic concepts of computer science but on the other hand he treats his readers as they were already experts that do not need any explanations at all. If the author thought his readers are absolute beginners he should consistently provide explanations of all basic concepts starting with bits and bytes, interpreters, compilers, hashes, data structures, algorithms, network protocols, cryptography, distributed consensus and so on, which would require at least 1000 pages. Alternatively, if the author thought his readers are experts he should have better jumped directly into the specifics of Ethereum without wasting any word on basic concept, which as a result would have yield a book of at most 100 pages. Unfortunately the author was not willing to make a clear decision / assumption about the technical level of his readers and hence he decided do jump between these two extremes all the time leaving you either bored or overwhelmed.
Example: On the one hand the author feels obliged to mention the difference between analogue and digital while on the other hand he does not feel the necessary to explain the language Solidity instead he directly jumps into niche topics such as bypassing the compiler with an assembly{…} directive.
Summary: If you still consider giving this book a try, do yourself a favour and buy a softcopy from am online bookstore so that you have at least the chance to return it to the shop once you are dissatisfied with the book.
Here are the reasons why I don't recommend this book:
1. It is messy
Problem: The author starts explaining something in one place and suddenly stops. Then some chapters later he continues and again suddenly stops just to continue some pages later. This causes a lot of disruptions when trying to understand a concept in one go.
Example: Cryptography and cryptographic signatures are introduced on page 7 without explaining cryptographic hash functions. They are finally mentioned on page 55 that is much too late, because one needs to understand them in order to understand cryptographic signatures.
2. Crucial information is just missing
Problem: A heading highlights an important term, but no explanation is given in the following paragraph.
Example: “Merkle Patricia Trees� Sub-Heading on page 122 but the following paragraph does not tell you anything about that data structure. Just visit Wikipedia in order to see that this data structure needs some good explanation in order to be understood. Unfortunately this book does not help you in understanding Merkle Patricia Trees.
3. Copy & Paste from the Internet
Problem: Instead of providing original new explanations the author just did copy&paste from the Internet.
Example: On page 118 the section titled “How Ethereum Uses Stale Blocks� only contains information available in the Internet. Unfortunately this information is not sufficient. If you really understand the GHOST or Stellar protocol with that information you are genius and I am wondering why you bought that book in the first place.
4. It is incoherent
Problem: The chapter and section headings are no coherent with the provided chapter / section content, leaving the reader confused.
Example: On page 48 the section titled “What are Virtual Machines Exactly� has the subsections: “The role of the ethereum protocol in banking� and “Anyone can make a banking platform�. What do these subsection have to do with virtual machines? The same happens in chapter 4 “Solidity programming� on pages 69 to 88. Subheadings are: “Global Banking Made (almost) Real� and “Complementary Currency�. Again: What have these topics to do with the programming language solidity? The remainder of the chapter 4 is not good at all. Wasting pages and pages on niche topics without providing any systematic introduction into Solidity.
5. It is wasting time on trivialities and common places
Problem: The author wastes valuable space of the book and valuable reading time of its readers for absolute trivialities.
Example: On page 72 the section titled “Learning to Program the EVM� starts with a discussion about very basic common places like “Sometimes it’s easier to learn a new habit than to break old one.� Then the author spends another five paragraphs explaining what it means without making any substantial point.
6. It is inconsistent
Problem: The book is inconsistent. One the one hand the author treats his readers as they are absolute beginners that need explanations even for the most basic concepts of computer science but on the other hand he treats his readers as they were already experts that do not need any explanations at all. If the author thought his readers are absolute beginners he should consistently provide explanations of all basic concepts starting with bits and bytes, interpreters, compilers, hashes, data structures, algorithms, network protocols, cryptography, distributed consensus and so on, which would require at least 1000 pages. Alternatively, if the author thought his readers are experts he should have better jumped directly into the specifics of Ethereum without wasting any word on basic concept, which as a result would have yield a book of at most 100 pages. Unfortunately the author was not willing to make a clear decision / assumption about the technical level of his readers and hence he decided do jump between these two extremes all the time leaving you either bored or overwhelmed.
Example: On the one hand the author feels obliged to mention the difference between analogue and digital while on the other hand he does not feel the necessary to explain the language Solidity instead he directly jumps into niche topics such as bypassing the compiler with an assembly{…} directive.
Summary: If you still consider giving this book a try, do yourself a favour and buy a softcopy from am online bookstore so that you have at least the chance to return it to the shop once you are dissatisfied with the book.
June 23, 2017
Good introductory book. It's a bit complicated to write a book aimed at both technical and non-technical readers, you risk boring the former and confusing the latter, as it's hard to find a good balance.
As a programmer, I wish it was a bit more technical and detailed, but it's an "introduction" for a reason, and in any case the author provides a very comprehensive and up to date list of links on his website for anyone who wants to dig a bit deeper in any of the topics.
All in all, very recommended reading for those interested in Ethereum.
As a programmer, I wish it was a bit more technical and detailed, but it's an "introduction" for a reason, and in any case the author provides a very comprehensive and up to date list of links on his website for anyone who wants to dig a bit deeper in any of the topics.
All in all, very recommended reading for those interested in Ethereum.
June 9, 2017
*** Please keep in mind that I'm reviewing the book, not the technology. ***
This book has one, significant advantage - it is enough to spark interest for Ethereum in general. It succeeds in that because ... it's good in sketching it's potential but it fails to answer the questions about both practical usage (there are some very high-level concepts) and dealing with already recognized problems (vide blockchain length), so it forces the reader to do the follow-up after finishing reading :). It's not that author is incapable - clearly he has a lot of knowledge & you can easily see the effort (just check eth.guide), but it seems that author fails in meeting the most basic goal -putting himself in shoes of someone who starts his journey with Eth - what such a person would be interested in, what would be the question, how to illustrate the concepts in the most tangible way.
Another significant mistake is trying to fit the needs of all kinds of readers - in particular tekkies & non-tekkies. Attempts to describe the programming concepts to non-programmers are very poor, lack practical samples that would make any sense for the reader & are just dull. Developers will be very disappointed with the technical stuff - don't expect that you'll have any reasonable foundation to build dapp after reading this book.
The worst thing is that even if this book is at most average, most likely it's still the best book available on the topic ...
This book has one, significant advantage - it is enough to spark interest for Ethereum in general. It succeeds in that because ... it's good in sketching it's potential but it fails to answer the questions about both practical usage (there are some very high-level concepts) and dealing with already recognized problems (vide blockchain length), so it forces the reader to do the follow-up after finishing reading :). It's not that author is incapable - clearly he has a lot of knowledge & you can easily see the effort (just check eth.guide), but it seems that author fails in meeting the most basic goal -putting himself in shoes of someone who starts his journey with Eth - what such a person would be interested in, what would be the question, how to illustrate the concepts in the most tangible way.
Another significant mistake is trying to fit the needs of all kinds of readers - in particular tekkies & non-tekkies. Attempts to describe the programming concepts to non-programmers are very poor, lack practical samples that would make any sense for the reader & are just dull. Developers will be very disappointed with the technical stuff - don't expect that you'll have any reasonable foundation to build dapp after reading this book.
The worst thing is that even if this book is at most average, most likely it's still the best book available on the topic ...
August 30, 2018
While waiting for the publication of Mastering Ethereum by Andreas Antonopoulos, I decided to give this book a try. I think the book gives a good introduction to Ethereum, EVM and the potential of the technology. There is an introduction to Mist, Geth, cryptography, hashing, Patricia tree structures, dapps, smart contracts. The author also gives a good abstraction of some uses cases where blockchains are useful. The book is written with a futuristic narrative.
The only negative is that most of the hyperlinks in the book were returning 404.
The only negative is that most of the hyperlinks in the book were returning 404.
November 7, 2021
The book is likely hopelessly outdated now. Descriptions of Ethereum and it's workings are very high level and not very concrete and right at the point it looked like it might get more detailed it said you're better off visiting the internet to continue on this topic.
Mildly interesting to read what a true believer thought in 2017. I laughed out loud when reading a couple of arguments for why this technology was amazing and would solve the world's problems. 90% of possible use cases presented would be better served by not being involved with a distributed ledger IMO.
Mildly interesting to read what a true believer thought in 2017. I laughed out loud when reading a couple of arguments for why this technology was amazing and would solve the world's problems. 90% of possible use cases presented would be better served by not being involved with a distributed ledger IMO.
July 26, 2017
Good easy read, great way to quickly get familiarized with Ethereum and what it has to offer. There's a lot of information regarding blockchain technologies out there. Almost nothing in this book can't be easily found on the internet, however I would say the real value in this book is its ability to cut through the noise and just give you what you need to know in order to ramp up quickly. In my opinion this book serves as the perfect starting point when diving into Ethereum.
September 20, 2017
Introduction is the operative word
The first four chapters discuss how 2+2=4. The latter chapters repeat the first four and introduce about 1 poorly formatted code example and introduce incredibly simple programming concepts of any language, like what a boolean is.
If you were looking for technical detail for the block chain or Solidity, look elsewhere.
The first four chapters discuss how 2+2=4. The latter chapters repeat the first four and introduce about 1 poorly formatted code example and introduce incredibly simple programming concepts of any language, like what a boolean is.
If you were looking for technical detail for the block chain or Solidity, look elsewhere.
April 2, 2018
A great primer on the Ethereum blockchain platform for anyone looking for the basics of how to program for it (using Solidity).
Covers the basic structure, premise, consensus mechanism, smart contracts and provides the building blocks of constructing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) with it.
Recommended.
Covers the basic structure, premise, consensus mechanism, smart contracts and provides the building blocks of constructing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) with it.
Recommended.
January 10, 2019
Good for a beginner....right when I want him to explain something (writing solidity contracts) he defers to blog posts and other websites....while most of it is explained thoroughly, he could've gone further in depth instead of just adding in links to other sites...
November 7, 2021
It's for normies, the book contains minimal technical stuff, most of the information are rather easily accessible by googling it on the internet. This book is for an absolute beginner who never read anything about cryptocurrency.
November 15, 2021
Buku bagus buat fundamental pemrograman Solidity. Namun, beberapa teknologi yang dipakai di Buku ini sudah usang atau proyek pengembangannya sudah terhenti. Tapi tenang saja, ada penggantinya. Misal untuk Wallet, bisa pakai Metamask.
July 18, 2017
A good into to ethereum/blockchain world. Heavy with the terminology. Not that much info when it comes to programming.
January 13, 2018
Very basic book and quite useful to understand the concepts of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain revolution.
March 16, 2018
Just like most of ICOs, half-baked with low utility value.
January 18, 2023
I was hoping for something more technical, but if you just want a non/high level technical introduction to Ethereum and solidarity, this is a good starting point.
March 21, 2020
Good book is only to introduce a big technology with huge potential!
January 4, 2019
This is like a book for dummies. It's well written but almost an article more than a book.
April 10, 2017
Three-and-a-half stars. This little book, while better written than most in the cryptocurrancy/blockchain space (admittedly a low bar), tries to do too much with too few pages. This book tries to teach basic programming, to describe the Ethereum ecosystem and teach the rudiments of how to interact with it, and to give the economic context in which it occurs; but only really succeeds with the second task. The how-to-program parts are painfully inadequate, and the economic justifications are heavily cherry-picked and involve a fair amount of comparing apples to oranges. This book at least (with the exception of Chapter 10 "Use Cases") does avoid the overheated futurism that this genre is prone to.
This book does give you, I think, a good feel for what Ethereum is about, how to get started with it, and why some people are so excited about it. It does not, however, address the huge problem of how a system can be reliable if it depends on possible unreliable information from outside the blockchain as many use cases do. And the whole DAO debacle is only mentioned in passing, despite it being an important cautionary tale ("those whom the Gods would destroy, they first give hubris").
The author's failures, are in general, too much enthusiasm and trying to do too much in too little space. The former is only really a failure when not balanced by a sense of sense of the complexity and slipperiness of the real world. If you're looking to replace something that exists, you best understand how it works and why first. This book could have used a bit better proof-reading (but it is still head and shoulders above the quality of proof-reading in recent O'Reilly titles).
This book does give you, I think, a good feel for what Ethereum is about, how to get started with it, and why some people are so excited about it. It does not, however, address the huge problem of how a system can be reliable if it depends on possible unreliable information from outside the blockchain as many use cases do. And the whole DAO debacle is only mentioned in passing, despite it being an important cautionary tale ("those whom the Gods would destroy, they first give hubris").
The author's failures, are in general, too much enthusiasm and trying to do too much in too little space. The former is only really a failure when not balanced by a sense of sense of the complexity and slipperiness of the real world. If you're looking to replace something that exists, you best understand how it works and why first. This book could have used a bit better proof-reading (but it is still head and shoulders above the quality of proof-reading in recent O'Reilly titles).
November 29, 2017
Una cobertura demasiado superficial de los temas.
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