Bitcoin Forum

Can't help myself!  I've decide to jump into bitcoin with both feet, starting from scratch.  I'm a software developer by day and swore I'd never be one of those guys that worked all day in front of a computer only to come home and spend all evening working in front of a computer.  So I never did.  However...bitcoin and crypto-currencies are just so damned fascinating I just have to now.  I've been fascinated with crypto protocols since I first learned about them in the mid 90s.  Spent time lurking on the cypherpunk mailing list.  It's time to get back to an old love.  First step, get a computer at home I can do some dev on!  All I have at home right now is an old-ish Macbook Pro.  I want to keep that separate from any bitcoin/alt coin dev I get into.  After I get a decent dev box at home I will set up the necessary dev environment and start playing with the bitcoin source to really see how it works under the hood.  Should be fun!

Edit 1: By 'from scratch' I didn't mean 'rewrite the code from scratch'.  I meant to indicate I was getting into the bitcoin technology without having most of the prerequisites.  I don't have a decent computer for doing dev work at home.  I've never worked on an open source project.  Never worked with MSYS, Perl, Python, GCC, Git, OpenSSL, Berkeley DB, Boost, Miniupnpc, or QT. The last time I worked with any UNIX-like OS it was called SunOS (unless you count NeXTSTEP). And obviously, I currently only know the basics of the bitcoin protocol and nothing about the actual implementation.  So, I'm not quite starting from nothing as I have been coding for many years, but I have a lot to learn.  Should be fun!

Edit 2: Changed 'Subject' line to better reflect the topic of this thread.

Okay, good luck! The project can always use more devs :)

welcome to the party :)

I believe he wants to re-implement the protocol.

As many people have done, I guess it qualifies as learning experience.

It also qualifies as a lot of fun and satisfaction - I know what I'm saying :)

Yeah sure.  I plan re-implement it in COBOL, tweak a few parameters, then launch cobolcoin - the coin for legacy business operations! I'll make a fortune!  Ha!

Nope, no plans to re-implement.  Just want to see how it works, learn how some of the other interesting alt coins work, and see where that leads.  Maybe even contribute something useful someday.  It will be a slow process as I only have so much free time.  But it will be fun.

Thanks! I expect it will be awhile before I am at a point where I can contribute anything useful, but will look for ways to help when I get up and running with a dev environment.

Take notes on the parts that aren't clear, and if possible, what finally makes it click for you.  The notes and diagrams that etotheipi wrote when he was writing Armory are very useful, and you can help by expanding that.

Good Idea.  BTW, where can I find these notes and diagrams?  I took a quick glance at the BitcoinArmory repository on github and the Armory web site and didn't seem them.  Are they somewhere in the main bitcoin github repository?  I'll look for them there tomorrow.

In such case your topic's title is very misleading :)

I agree.  Later today I will edit my original post to clarify what I meant.

Bitcoin wiki (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page) is probably the best source of technical information about bitcoin protocol.
You can find etotheipi's diagrams there (e.g., https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/7/70/Bitcoin_OpCheckSig_InDetail.png, https://en.bitcoin.it/w/images/en/9/9b/PubKeyToAddr.png).

Thanks! These will be very helpful.  I am already slowly working my way through the wiki.  Hadn't noticed these diagrams yet.  I am quite fond of diagrams so will probably make a few myself in time.  I will be sure to share them so people can decide if they would be helpful to others.

Well, progress is happening.  I spec'ed out a computer and placed an order.  Should arrive next week.  Bought a pair of monitors to set up a dual-monitor development station at home.  Also ordered a GIGABYTE Radeon R9 290 to play with some litecoin mining.  That should arrive next week, too.  I figure I can't fully understand crypto-currencies unless I also experience first-hand the joys and pains of mining.  in addition to that I've been doing a lot of reading in the evenings.  Been lurking in the forums here and on Reddit as well as reading up on the basics of peer-to-peer networks, how to use Git, what JSON is, etc, etc.   I've hardly turned on the TV at all these last couple of week.  Now *that's* an ROI not measured in $!