Blockchain Developer Program Learning Resources

Blockchain Developer Program External Learning Resources

General Learning tools

• Litepaper.com - LitePaper transforms the complex blockchain space into beautiful bundles of learning.
• EthereumDev.io
• Comprehensive Solidity tutorials
• Ethereum Development Walkthrough (5 part series) -- Hackernoon
• CryptoZombies
• Ethernaut Security game by Open Zeppelin
• Visual Overview of Ethereum in 116 slides
• Dan Finlay on How Ethereum Works
• Solidity by Example -- Solidity Docs
• Style Guide -- Solidity Docs
• Ethereum Wiki Main Page

General

• Setting up a virtualbox ubuntu dev environment

• Ethereum stack exchange

• Week in Ethereum News
• A Vision of the Internet of Value by Long Vuong
• Difference between app coins and protocol tokens
• An Ethereum Technical Specification

Medium

• Consensys
• Consensys Media

Module 1: Review of Blockchain Technology

Consensus Mechanisms

• Byzantine Generals Problem
• Types of Consensus
• Review of Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms

Mining in Ethereum

• Live visualization of block formation
• Ethereum Wiki on Mining

Public and Private Blockchains

• On Public and Private Blockchains

Module 2: Blockchain Primitives

Cryptographic Hash Functions

• Blockchain Underpinnings: Hashing by ConsenSys Media
• Cryptographic hash functions on Wikipedia
• Cryptographic hash functions - Kahn Academy

Merkle Trees

• Merkling in Ethereum by Vitalik Buterin
• Ever Wonder How Merkle Trees Work by ConsenSys Media
• Patricia Merkle Trees - Ethereum Wiki

Blockchain Structure

• A visual demonstration of a blockchain data structure
• Bitcoin Wiki - Blockchain
• Fat Protocols by Joel Monegro
• Solidity Documentation: Blockchain Basics

Smart Contracts

• Introduction to Smart Contracts

Nodes

•  What is an Ethereum node?

Blockchain Forks

• Hard Forks, Soft Forks, Defaults and Coercion by Vitalik Buterin
• Short guide to bitcoin forks

Module 3: Ethereum Structure

Accounts

• Hexadecimal format
• How are Ethereum Addresses Generated?
• Solidity Docs on Accounts

• How is the address of an Ethereum contract computed?

Transactions

• An externally owned account on Etherscan
• A contract account on Etherscan
• How does Ethereum verify contract execution?
• Solidity Docs on Transactions
• What is the difference between a transaction and a contract message?

Gas and Fees

• Ethereum, Gas, Fuel and Fees -- Consensys Media
• EthGasStation

Ethereum Structure

• How does Ethereum work anyway?
• Ethereum Block Architecture
• The Ethereum Virtual Machine
• Ethereum Development tutorial
• Ethstats

Module 4: Traditional and Decentralized Application Development

Traditional and Decentralized App Development

• Why use a blockchain?
• Ethereum for Web Developers
• A Brief Overview of dApp Development
• Building for Blockchain: Transitioning from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 

Development Environment Setup Options

• Creating a private chain / testnet
• The Go-Ethereum (Geth) Github Repo
• Infura: A public API Interface for Ethereum

Key Developer Tools

• Parity: A Rust-based Ethereum client
  
• Metamask: Chrome Extension for Ethereum
• Remix: an in-browser IDE for Smart Contract Development
• Truffle: A Blockchain Development Framework
• Truffle Ganache: A Private Testnet for Blockchain Development
• Web3.js: Javascript Library for Ethereum + front-end integration
• IPFS website: Distributed File Storage Mechanism
• Swarm documentation: Distributed File Storage within Geth (beta)

Module 5: Development Frameworks and Environment

Development Workflow: Ganache CLI

•  Ganache-cli on npm

Install Truffle

• How to install Truffle and Ganache CLI on Windows for blockchain development
• The Truffle docs quickstart on working with Ganache
• Configuring Visual Studio Code for Blockchain Development
• Resolving naming conflicts on Windows

Initializing Truffle

• Truffle Boxes are helpful boilerplates that allow you to focus on what makes your dapp unique. In addition to Truffle, Truffle Boxes can contain other helpful modules, Solidity contracts & libraries, front-end views and more; all the way up to complete example dapps.
• For quick reference, the Truffle docs provide a concise, clear explanation of how to Initialize a project
• EthPM.com provides an interface to explore the Ethereum Package Registry. It currently lives on the Ropsten testnet. 
• The ethpm registry is based on the ERC190 Smart Contract Packaging Specification
• Ethpm: Reusable smart contract packages

Module 6: Solidity Fundamentals

Data Types and Variables

• Solidity Docs - Types

Functions

• Solidity docs - Functions
• Solidity docs - Function Types

Storage and Memory

• Difference between memory and storage
• Storage, Memory and the Stack
• Data location -- Solidity Docs

Contract Structure

• Structure of a Contract
• Smart contracts as a State Machine
• Solidity Assembly Code

Reading Smart Contracts

• Reading Contracts Exercises
• Greeter Contract tutorial - Ethereum Foundation

Smart Contract ABI

• Solidity Docs - ABI
• What is the ABI and why is it needed to interact with contracts

Events and Logs

• Technical introduction to Events and Logs in Ethereum by Joseph Chow, Consensys Media
• Events - Solidity Docs

Factory Contracts

• Manage several contracts with Factories
• EIP20 Token Factory

Module 7: Writing Smart Contracts

Introductory Smart Contracts

• Truffle Pet Shop Tutorial
• Introductory Contracts

Inter-Contract Execution

• Inter-Contract Execution gist
• CALL vs CALLCODE vs DELEGATECALL in Solidity
• Difference between call, callcode and delegatecall - stackexchange
• Interactions between contracts

Inheritance

• Inheritance in Solidity
• Inheritance, from the Solidity Docs
• Abstract contracts
• Interfaces

Libraries and the Ethereum Package Manager

• Library Driven Development in Solidity
• Libraries in the Solidity Docs
• What are the steps to compile and deploy a library in solidity?
• Package Management with EthPM in Truffle
• EthPM: Reusable Smart Contract Packages

Smart Contract System Design

• Towards better Ethereum voting protocols
• Token-weighted Voting Implementation Part 1
• Token-weighted Voting Implementation Part 2
• Other uses of Commit Reveal

Debugging Truffle Tests

• Truffle Debugger

Module 8: Ethereum and the End User

Introduction to Web 3.0 

• A Warm Welcome to Web3 and the Future of the Internet
• Latest stable Javascript JSON-RPC API documentation (v 0.2x.x)
• Ethereum Web3.js library documentation v1.0

Building Truffle for the Web

• Truffle pet shop tutorial
• Metamask provides option to no longer automatically inject web3

Integrating with React

• Truffle box React
• If React isn't your thing - Truffle maintains a list of boxes that make getting started with Truffle and your favorite framework super easy. If you don't see one that suits your needs, feel free to create you own!
• React & Ethereum: Getting Started with the minimum tool set Required: Part 1 of 4

Generating Ethereum Accounts in Javascript

• Exercise Repository

• Understanding the concept of private keys, public keys and addresses in Ethereum
• Ethereum yellow paper

Module 9: Smart Contract Pitfalls, Testing and Debugging

Writing Tests

• Writing Solidity tests in Truffle
• Writing Javascript tests in Truffle
• Testing for throws in Truffle Solidity tests

Smart Contract Best Practices

• Smart contract best practices
• Recommendations for Smart Contract Security in Solidity
• Common bugs, attacks and best practices
• Frontrunning

Exploits and Dangers

• A survey of attacks on Ethereum smart contracts
• A list of known bugs from the Solidity docs
• A hacker stole $31M of Ether  -  how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum

Optimizing Gas

• Here is a list of OPCODES and their gas costs.

• Optimizing Solidity contract's gas usage

• Under Optimized Smart Contracts Devour Your Money

Safety Checklist

• Smart contract safety checklist
• Cross chain replay attacks

Security Analysis Tools

• Mythril platform website
• Slither, a Solidity source code analyzer
• Smart Check

Module 10: Ethereum Advanced Topics

Design Patterns

• Common Design Patterns
• Design Patterns
• Pull over push payments example

Upgradable Contracts

• Writing Upgradable Contracts in Solidity
• Software Engineering techniques - ConsenSys
• Upgradable smart contracts. What we’ve learned building Insurance on a Blockchain
• Summary of Ethereum Upgradeable Smart Contract R&D

Oracles

• Oraclize + Remix demo - click the tabs along the top to see implementations of different contracts
• Oraclize documentation

uPort

• uPort
• Developer Documentation
• Launch A Decentralized Identity Application using the Developer Friendly uPort/React Truffle Box

The Ethereum Name Service

• ENS website
• ENS documentation
• Top level domain .luxe will resolve Etheruem addresses

IPFS

• IPFS
• IPFS Demo
• IPFS Docs
• An introduction to IPFS - ConsenSys

Formal Verification

• What is formal verification, and why is it important for smart contracts? - stackexchange
• Formal Verification of Ethereum Contracts
• Automated formal verification tool

Module 11: Further

LLL

• LLL documentation
• Compiling an LLL contract for the first time
• The Ethereum name service GitHub has some great examples of LLL code that is in production

Vyper

• Vyper Documentation
• Vyper browser IDE
• How I learned to stop worrying and love Viper — Part 1
• An Early Look At Vyper

Ethereum Improvement Proposals

• Ethereum EIPs on Github
• Walkthrough of an Ethereum Improvement Proposal
• EIP-20 on Github
• ERC20 on Ethereum Wiki
• EIP-721 on Github