Bitcoin Forum

I am a coder who wants to *really* understand the bitcoin protocol... what where is a good book / primer location?

If you already know how the system works (blockchain, transactions, mining, addresses, fees, etc) you already have a good starting point. The best way to learn the software aspects of the bitcoin network would be to look it up on the internet imho. Here's the Bitcoin Core (official Bitcoin Wallet) GitHub code page. This wallet is open source so you can read their code and try to understand how it works: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin).

However if you are a beginner in the BTC world I suggest you learn the basics of the system first. There are numerous sources you can use to your advantage, the first being the official bitcoin website: https://bitcoin.org (https://bitcoin.org).

Also check their "Developer Documentation" section: https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-documentation (https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-documentation).

A warm welcome to the world of crypto currencies, we need more developpers.

There's no such thing as a "best place"... It is always different, and somewhere else  ;D ;)
But there are learning sources, next to bitcoin.org, as the reference page.
And the world doesn't stop with bitcoin, there's the whole altcoin world.

I had it very easy to get started, after reading Andreas book "Mastering Bitcoin", which is available in many languages, and can be read online.
bitcoin.stackexchange.com is a webpage, that serves as a Q&A forum, and many, many technical questions are answered there, especially when it comes to details of how to construct transactions.

And then it depends, what you want to program. A web page accepting coins - good start! A wallet software? This is a task, which requires serious knowledge on crypto and security. Usually you need some years of experience in this area to start building a secure wallet. A whole new crypto coin? Phew :-)

You can use google to find some useful tutorials. First, start by installing Bitcoin Core:
you can find the source here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin)
Then, to test your application you have to use the Testne (test network)
Here you can find some useful information: https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples (https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples)
Being a programmer is a plus and will help make understanding who the Bitcoin works easier.

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

You can also download the PDF of the book on andreas Github for free and then pinch in some for andreas https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

Remember that installing Bitcoin Core requires ~150GB of free disk space (and also the bandwidth and the time needed to download them) before you can start with your testing on the system. I wouldn't personally suggest this as the first step to take for a beginner but hey, that's just my personal opinion :D

This is a fantastic book called Mastering Bitcoin that is fully available online for free:

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

I think these links should be of little help to you


http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-actually-works/
https://github.com/jashmenn/bitcoin-reading-list
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-learn-Bitcoin-Blockchain-programming
https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/learning-bitcoin/9781785287305/ch08s07.html