Bitcoin Forum

Hello all,

I think that one of the way to make Bitcoin a success is to teach developers how to program it themselves, while keeping in mind the real problems they can fix with it.
Depending on public web API to do the heavy stuff is still useful, but oblige the user to look at the problem from someone else eyes.
It also block innovation, since users are stuck to what their API provider gives them, and provoke a mopya to the wild possibilities of Bitcoin.

I have way too much demand for work than I can give. However, I can spread what I know for free in a book.

My book is in public domain, and will be spread likely in 3 parts.
The first part is out now, and I am waiting for your feedback (and your work ! :))

In the book, you will find coding challenges that you need to resolve to get access to the next parts when they will be out.

The range of difficulty will go from "how to create a private key", "how to make you transaction by hand, and sending by hand" to "how Dark Wallet works", "How to implement coin shuffle", "how to implement a voting system with colored coins"

Website : http://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/ (http://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/)
Book link : https://aois.blob.core.windows.net/public/Blockchain Programming in CSharp.pdf (https://aois.blob.core.windows.net/public/Blockchain Programming in CSharp.pdf)

Nicolas,
Happy coding and make shit happens,

Looks interesting.  I will take a look this weekend. I like term "Blockchain Programming" BTW.

Thanks, I think the first part might be easy for you.
The next parts 2 and 3 will go deeper though. I will release a hard cover when I finished all the parts. Will also be in the public domain.

Very nice.  Im about to socialize a MVC app that uses some of your code too :)

Don't hesitate if you have question ;)

I just finished to write about the HD Wallet and Dark Wallet part. (I updated the ebook)
I'm glad I can finally explain Dark Wallet clearly !! (well... I hope... I don't know if anyone could understand the first article about it I did several month ago oO)

Reading my old article, is like reading an old code... I am not even sure I even did it.

Thankyou so much!! i will follow you to obtain next chapters!!

Thank you!

Finally , I was looking for such a thing but never really found anything on Csharp always C++ or Python or Java ;D glad to see someone working hard here to help others .
I will do my best to learn "blockchain" programming on C#  , Thanks for sharing useful eBook mate :) going to check it out for sure

~ Madness.

Thanks man,

There are very few books in the .net framework for these topics

Just wrote up a small article about your book, which can be found here :

http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/blockchain-programming-in-c-first-book-of-the-trilogy-available-on-public-domain

Looking forward to part two and three!

Nice , that's a pretty nice article mate you got some skills on writing dude ;D do you own that website ?
btw, make sure that his real name is Nicolas Dorier , It may be just a fake name you know .. not everyone use their real names on the internet certaintly not on Bitcoin world  ::)

Thanks, looking forward to read it :)

thanks a lot ! :)


I'm using my real name here are some proof : http://www.nicolas-dorier.com/ (http://www.nicolas-dorier.com/), http://www.codeproject.com/script/Articles/MemberArticles.aspx?amid=6354608 (http://www.codeproject.com/script/Articles/MemberArticles.aspx?amid=6354608) and https://github.com/NicolasDorier (https://github.com/NicolasDorier)

If you need, I can create some links between these identities by editing stuff.

Woops , don't get me wrong man . I totally believe that it's your real name
I was just telling the guy that wrote the article to make sure it's your realname by asking "you" here on the forum , that's all ;D

Well, there is no problem with that, it is a valid concern :)

Blockchain Programming. Man, that is one baller name. I will definitely look into this later on!

Well done! Glad to see you still working on your implementation. Very interesting and promising book.
BTW I've submitted the final stealth standard to Peter Todd ready for him to publish. There are some changes, but we'll have to wait for it to be published/reviewed. Here's the doc: https://github.com/genjix/bips/blob/master/bip-stealth.mediawiki

I overviewed the BIP, I don't see any breaking change about current version of Dark Wallet (the one published on the wiki), stealth address, prefix matching, key generations, OP_RETURN are always the same, am I right ?

Does multiple OP_RETURN will finally beb possible to batch more than one stealth payment in a transaction ?

Ty for the kind words, and yes it is my own site :) (co-owned)

I used the name seeing as it was on the cover of the book as well :)

Looks like the article is quite popular tbh, 759 views so far (and counting) :)

Made me laugh when I saw your article with 60 vote + on reddit.

I announced it 3 days ago it has been completely ignored.
I guess that's the difference between a real good blogger and a nerd like me :D

Well I wasn't trying to steal your spotlight, I just wanted to raise some awareness about your book :)

But I'm glad it is getting some attention, we need more books like this :)

once the second and third book are available, please let me know via email (jdebunt@cryptoarticles.com) :)

Ahah no that's fine, I'm glad you managed to get attention, I'll send you a tip please give me your address. ;)
I did not managed to get the spotlight anyway, saying you stole it is far fetched. :D
I'll send you the mail. :)

Just paid. I wish you had put a QR code so it could be scanned, I had to type in your wallet address.

Edit: i paid as soon as i got to the payment page, now that i am past i realize that i had to pay via exercise and OP_RETURN, I hope the outcome of you getting paid being the same in both methods makes both approaches valid ;)

Wow, nice job. Thank you for this excellent book, Nicolas Dorier.
I'm addicted to C# and I like the brilliant idea of blockchain. Now your book combined both of them. Am I dreaming?  :D :D ;D ;D

Looking forward for the last 2 parts!

The challenge is for the fun, the next part will be public anyway. (but those who managed to do the challenge will get it first... but since they will share it, it won't last long :))

I have seen you payment, if you want to do the challenge, I can refund it to you, and you send them back with the OP_RETURN.
Just give me a signed message I verify your are the owner of the address if you want the refund and try the challenge. (very easy)

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but I need some help...

I just found this book, and I'm really excited to get started! I am familiar with Java and Visual Studio, but have ZERO C# experience. In visual studio, after I install the reference NBitcoin, the bitcoin keywords (Key, PubKey, BitcoinAddress... etc) are not highlighting as reserved/recognized keywords... Is there a step I am missing? The microsoft forum was completely useless...  :-\

I get this error when trying to debug:

Error   1   Cannot embed interop types from assembly 'f:\Bitcoin\ProgrammingBitcoin1\packages\NBitcoin.1.0.7.18\lib\net45\NBitcoin.dll' because it is missing either the 'ImportedFromTypeLibAttribute' attribute or the 'PrimaryInteropAssemblyAttribute' attribute   f:\Bitcoin\ProgrammingBitcoin1\packages\NBitcoin.1.0.7.18\lib\net45\NBitcoin.dll   ProgrammingBitcoin1

I switched the embed interop typse back and forth from true and false, but the keywords still don't highlight, and i get a different error for each keyword saying the namespace cannot be found.

No it's ok, if I paid for it and others will get it free I have no problem with that :)

Thanks again.

You need to include the "namespace" with the "using" keyword. (packages is java's equivalent)
Follow Channel9 videos for C# beginner, it is awesome. http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C-Sharp-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners (http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C-Sharp-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners)

right on, I was just talking with someone about this exact topic... I need to learn more... lol a lot more ;) and this could be a great start. I'll check it out for sure.

you should sell it in the gaiacoin app store (and any other coin with a built in app store) the more people that learn the better :D

You can do it, it is public domain. :)
It is far from being finished though. It only covered the first part which is yet the tip of the iceberg. Also, my english is not perfect it is under review.

K, I'll keep that in mind while I'm reading it :)

You are a highly productive individual, Nicolas.  Congrats on the Blockchain Programming in C# book!

I am reading, thank you :)

Meanotor , since some other people sent some tips without OP_RETURN, I decided that I needed to show them some love on http://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/ (http://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/)
However, they are referred as "Lazy Donators". ;)

Thanks, this is great! Will donate soon!

The book is pretty awesome and helpful to be honest . Do you mind if I write about it on my blog once I have sometime ? I will give you all the credit of course .
By the way , I wanted to ask you about the release of the second part is it anytime soon or it may some time ? :)

~ Madness.

Hey, sure go ahead the value of my work increase every time someone shares it. (It is why it is free by the way ;))

I am writing the second part, I intend to release in beginning of March.
I will do some cool stuff with colored coins, and will connect to the network for more interesting stuff. I will also talk about SPV.

The last part, the third will go on more advanced topics like micro payment channels with OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY, share coin, and how to implement a hub for asking transaction signature accross several participants. (multi sig or not)

By the way I updated the book several time since the beginning, so if you downloaded it long time ago, re download it to get the updated part.

A very interesting and impressive step here Mr Nicolas, have you considered translating the currently published book and/or future ones into other languages ? is that even a possibility ?

My time is better spent coding and writing about what I know, so I won't translate it myself, even in my own language.

However, since the book is public domain, if someone wants to do it and publish it himself commercially or not, I'm fine with it, as long as he gives me credits for as the author.

So the question is more : does a good translator will do it ? And I have no idea, but this is a possibility.
Also, the book will change a lot until I finished the 3 parts, so it does not make sense to start translating right now.

Even NBitcoin changes as I write. This is a funny thing that I find way to improve NBitcoin only when I write about it. When I struggle explaining some concept, most of the time, it forces me to refactor stuff in NBitcoin to explain more easily.

Yeah , looking at the screenshots that you posted (if you took them your self) I will say you are from France probably .
I have no problem translating this eBook to be honest to Arabic,French (since it's in english right now) but I guess I will wait till the three parts comes out , I guess it will be a good timing because I will probably finish my studies and be in holiday once you finish the book . so just let me know .

~ Madness

Thanks a lot Madness, it will be definitively helpful.
I think the book will be in a stable state in July. (the three parts will be out before, but multiple corrections will be done)
And yes, I'm from france.

Alright then , awesome because I finish my studies and I will be in holiday since 14 June if nothing changes till then .
Just hit me up (private message) once you finish them all ;) till then ... Good luck mate

~ Madness

Good luck with your work.

While releasing the book, I hope you include all recent developments, techniques and concerns with crypto. I mean we're in Jan/Feb now. The book will be available on July. Best wishes.

Ok then, will send you a PM regarding this.

Excellent job.

Hello!!

The second part is out?

Thankyou

Will be during the beginning of march, I'm currently writing it. :)

That's good news, looking forward to the 2nd part.
I really enjoyed reading your work!

I'm not sure if you'll have this in your book or not, but one thing that seems to be missing from some of the .Net wrapper libraries are annotated examples for calling each of the supported API methods.  Often the Bitcoin wrappers will include a basic example of only 2-3 methods (say checking the balance), but will miss key examples for each of the critical JSON methods that the wrapper calls, like sending a transaction. Granted, you can always look through the class and try to determine how to correctly call the method with the required parameters. However, it's much easier to just look at a working example and then change what you need to in order to adopt into the code. 

I'm looking forward to the book!

100% awesome.  You are the man (l'homme!).  1000s of cool things will be built on your great work.  Way to go Nicolas.  

Microsoft owes you bit time and they are idiots with growing intensity every day they don't send you a ton of money for promoting their platform. 

Congratulations, Nicolas! I have to read it.

Thanks for the feedback, the RPCClient class has a good deal of easy to call methods. However, I also let exposed the JObject SendRequest("commandname", request), so people are not stuck when the RPC api evolve but not NBitcoin.
Moreover, with C# you can add your custom method to classes without modifying the source. (Extension methods)

The book does not focus on the APIs though. I focus on blockchain programming, the reason is that by knowing the basics, you can better evaluate all APIs by yourself, but also create your own if none fit your needs.


Thanks, actually the best medal I can get is people building cool services thanks to it.

Microsoft is doing better since the management shake up after Ballmer left.
They are doing awesome work again, and I like its community. (http://channel9.msdn.com/ (http://channel9.msdn.com/) show lots of the cool stuff)
I must say that I was not so optimistic in the past.

Hope you'll want to depend on it for the cool projects you are doing :)

Very much agree with your first statement. I don't program in C# (yet) but I'm happy to see books coming out on this subject.

I am highly intrested on programming and the bitcoin thing is making me dam crazy

For some reason I missed this thread until now. First thing: I downloaded the pdf.
I will read it, I will try to understand it. First thing I like: it's not too long!!

Big THANK YOU!

Fantastic! There are millions of C# developers who have never learned and used anything else apart from the .NET platlform and C# and this book will be great for them.

Do you use ReSharper? I didn't look at your code yet, but if you don't use it you don't know what you miss. If you do use it, well you never want to work without it anymore!

Nice book anyway, i'm honest i scrolled thru it but it's great to see a book on C#, blockchain and your NuGet package.

But missing some "Red Shirts" :)

Will you release the book in 'hard cover' instead of pdf?

Maybe by contacting o'reilly, dummies or any other tech book seller.

Someone is currently correcting the book and wants to publish it. (his name is Bill Strait)
Anyway, I will not do it myself. I prefer getting code and articles done.


I don't use it. I tried in the past, multiple times, and it always resulted into crash and slowdown of visual studio.
Except for ReSharper, I'm a big fan of JetBrain. :)

Offtopic:
Odd to hear someone doesn't like R#, it's really really good.
But i'm a fan of RedGate, i do like the ANTS profile tools..

Ontopic:
I never heard about Bill Strait and can't find much about it on google or bing, because that name is not unique at all..

I do like the private key, public key and hash being written about.
Perhaps i missed about it, but i couldn't find anything in dept technical background in there..
Ofcourse that isn't C# related :)

Something like this
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses

I do not go in the details, but it will be far from basic, I want developers to understand bitcoin on the conceptual and developement level.
Knowing the details about how to transform an array of byte into a base58 does not unlock any potential for innovation.
Pure source code, wiki or Mastering Bitcoin of Andreas Antonopoulos are better suited for this kind of information.

Also, this is the first part of the book. The next one (should release beginning march) talk about building more complex transaction (multi sig, DW) and colored coins.
The third part will focus on advanced scenario like Coin Share and micro payment with OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY.

The goal of this book is to give the basic knowledge for starting innovation on bitcoin without relying on someone's else public web API (like blockchain info)
Relying on an web API blocks innovation at the web API provider level, this is the congestion I want to burst.

The lack of product in the bitcoin space is not the fault of the core developers but of API providers that got life too easy, and a lack of teaching materials easing the learning curve. Bitcoin the protocol evolves faster than we are innovating.

Hello Nicholas,

Thanks for this awesome ebook! i will take a good look at and will comment when im finished with it :)

Part 2 out https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=973916 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=973916) ;)

Thank you for this.

Once you've finished, you might want to consider creating an ebook out of it. You can put it up on Smashwords with a price of $0 and it will get distributed to most book retailers apart from Amazon.

Hi Nic,

I can't seem to send a transaction on the test network.  This code excuses without exception.  Any ideas?


Tx = 0100000001b3efb3050cc144151f83d3caef74c7bfc88838effb9999e12f936c33839ccd7d00000 00048473044022057a1ecdd6377d25bdfcf06d97f71c6f75571f14371e55f45265a7c28a942386f 0220201732fefbcd3788b31ffbade0cd0f2785d510b9d1c84c570f8b4ec128d993bf01ffffffff0 358020000000000001976a91497422742f5c61fd2f3d3c2b2bc97ff85be8a541f88aca8def50500 000000434104d751b12b85ba098f5648723265bcf88754d8a96923b9524ca590bbaf1dad7b51526 b0d3355602b8fa8dbe6e396e7db4655a8c5dcc1e4f1b44b6e273f5389a0ffac0000000000000000 096a074f41010001140000000000

Note:  Tx passed the verification method, Debug.Assert(txBuilder.Verify(tx));

Why is it commented out ?


Because you need it.

Another common error I've seen some people did is referencing the wrong Output.
In my example, I've checked precisely which coin I wanted to spend. (I think it was the first output of the previous transaction)
In you case, it might be the second coin of the previous transaction.

I have also checked you transaction, you are referencing a previous coin from 7dcd9c83336c932fe19999fbef3888c8bfc774efcad3831f1544c10c05b3efb3
This transaction is not confirmed nor in any mempool.

Commented out because I was trying with and without.

Hmm, all my test net coins where received months ago. 

Does part 2 of your book have a section on the tx builder?

Yes, the second part use TransactionBuilder a lot and have a part dedicated on the subject.

This is false, check for yourself. 7dcd9c83336c932fe19999fbef3888c8bfc774efcad3831f1544c10c05b3efb3 do not exists, you are referencing a coin from a transaction that do not exists.

You can also check the log of bitcoin core to have more information, but right now your transaction can't possibly work with a coin that do not exist.
You made a mistake on the transaction id you are referencing.

I never saw had a bug with txBuilder.Verify(tx);
If it says it is well signed, then it is, your problem is with the input outpoint.

Sorry to waste your time, not sure where that hash come form.  Triple checked and all is working now.

Will be sending a tip once I get paid :D

Hey guys, I've just encountered this problem, posted to stackoverflow.
Maybe someone knows what to do with it: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29874122/nbitcoin-throws-invalidoperationexception-with-the-message-mac-hmacsha256-not

responded there.

Looks very interesting.
I will give it a read when I get a chance.

Thanks  :D

Subbed. Have to learn in C# in my dayjob. I will buy this book, when I am able to understand it. Maybe in a year or so.

Will use this book as main goal/motivation to learn, improve and practice C#, so I can read and understand it.

I don't think you need deep knowledge of C# for starting playing with it.

You don't have to buy, it is free on https://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/ (https://blockchainprogramming.azurewebsites.net/)

thanks man, there are just few books about bitcoin and blockchain development in c#
great job!

Hi Nicholas, i just wanna say thanks for this awesome book, i just download it and i think it's pretty good to learn about bitcoin and blockchain as beginner like me, wanna spend my free time with it and maybe some cofee, thanks again

Was this updated recently? It has a bit more material now than when it was originally updated with part II.

Thanks, don't forget to tip for my coffee too :o)


I added parts about segwit recently.
But yes, I update it times to times. I don't always say it because it is always in small increments that does not make sense to announce individually, but after a while it stacks up to significant changes.

Was getting my feet wet on C++ and C# lately after learning python. I'm always fascinated on creating a bitcoin-related mechanism that could potentially help (or in a more daring statement, be a part of bitcoin's src code) bitcoin's code. This book might help me get there. Watching the thread for future developments and update. Thanks, Nicolas.

--UPDATE-- 
We have just moved the whole book to GitHub and fully revised it:

https://github.com/ProgrammingBlockchain/ProgrammingBlockchain

I appreciate the effort you put into this book and making it free, I'll read through it and see what I can learn. Thank you.

thanks for sharing!

Thank you, you put a lot of effort into this and making it free is super great!  Marking for later learning.

i want to learn bolckchain code and make app. How can I start and with which language "java , c++ , c# ... " which one is better and easy ?

do you some materials for java if you share will be super

No I don't. (reason: Java and bitcoinj sucks and are not portable)
Latest version of the book on gitbook https://www.gitbook.com/book/programmingblockchain/programmingblockchain/details (https://www.gitbook.com/book/programmingblockchain/programmingblockchain/details)

Stratis (http://stratisplatform.com/) is working on a full node built on C# and building a platform to build apps using C# and Microsoft .NET framework.

ICO began yesterday. Check it out! (https://ico.stratisplatform.com/)

Hi! Thanks for sharing this book. I am reading it right now and it is definitely a good book. I am not a professional programmer but the book gives me more knowledge about the blockchain technology with c# programming.😀

Have been examining blockchain development seriously, I'll for sure check this book out!