The OP has now been updated to the following:

CIYAM Project Plan

Now that the CIYAM project has had over 1,000 commits on github (https://github.com/ciyam/ciyam) and that our small but dedicated team (of mostly unpaid contributors) is coming together it seems appropriate that we list the main goals and task areas that we will be persuing throughout the year.

Major Goal

Our major goal is to create nothing less than a new kind of decentralised internet via a development platform that uses Software Manufacturing to allow people to easily create new blockchains and blockchain applications (without even requiring application creators to write source code).

No Coin Or IPO

It should be clearly noted that unlike most other such projects we are not going to be creating a currency at all (but we are creating a Token package that will support trustless transfers of ownership between parties).

There will also be no IPO - any funds raised will be via crowdfunding (with the use of the Crowdfund AT which we designed and created).

History And Direction

This project originated from a commercial software system which is still being used today and has been worked on since as early as 2001 (although full-time work on it only began in 2006). It was open sourced in 2012 and at that stage was still intended for the creation of traditional 3-tier DB applications (such as "CIYAM Open" which is an application that was 100% generated).

In 2014 work began on changing the platform to be suitable for working with a blockchain. A Wallet package to be able to work with Bitcoin and clones was also developed with the idea that this platform will allow people to create applications such as virtual currency exchanges over a P2P network secured by a new low-energy kind of "proof" system (that is unlike any existing approach).

Current Progress

The Software Manufacturing concept has been tried and very well tested so although some refinements will need to be made overall this area of the project has been pretty much completed.

The new proof concept has already been analysed by a qualified math expert (a white paper containing the math analysis of the approach will be published) and the basic algorithm to implement it has been devised.

A "file system" that is very similar to that used for "git" has been developed which will act as the backbone for the P2P network to operate (so file sharing is a key part of the design also).

The blockchain implementation is well underway although it will require quite a bit more work to be completed as will the peer implementation.

The Token package is nearing completion but some rework of the existing packages will be required in order to make them suitable for use in a blockchain environment.

Main Task Areas

Blockchain - the new proof algorithm implementation needs to be completed and then a lot of testing is needed to ensure it functions as expected.

IDE - some further work on the integrated development environment will be needed to make it easy to construct blockchains and blockchain applications.

Applications - It is hoped that when we go "live" we will be able to present something that looks pretty much identical to http://ciyam.org/open so this will require some rework of several existing packages that are not currently suitable for blockchain usage.

Deployment - the CIYAM Server VM based upon Open SUSE has been created for this purpose but further work will need to be done to ensure it is very simple to set up a node (and some research into how the development with VM technology is going with Android and other OS systems).

Marketing - we have basically no funding for this so at this stage we will be slowly raising our profile with the help of our Automated Transactions (AT) creation.

That is really nice - do you have one to explain signature verification as well?

Although my math isn't up to par from this pictorial my guess (from just looking at this visually) is that a signature would be the combination of a published private key and the public key of the secret private key. Is that at all close?

The developer of Burst has created this: https://github.com/BurstProject/ATAssembler which makes it much easier to write ATs (you don't need to do raw machine code which is a huge step forward).

Currently we are looking to extend this into a "macro assembler" that should make building ATs much simpler and our main strategy is to use Software Manufacturing (so that code is *generated* from just using HTML forms meaning that you wouldn't need to actually "write code" at all).

Eventually we'll get to adding a HLL assuming the project gains enough momentum but we have only a small number of part-time devs and basically zero funds so we can only get so much done (this is where Ethereum does have a huge advantage over us).

It's funny but they get nowhere here in China (yet the US built most of the Global Chinese Firewall for them).

Sorry guys - unfortunately bitronictech.org (the service I use to host ciyam.org) has been rather unreliable of late (if anyone knows of a better hosting VPS service that will let me use my own VM image and pay in BTC for under 50 USD per month please point me at them).

Our very first "use case" was a Lottery (which runs on Burst with a new draw once per week) so the raw assembly code for it is as follows:


Perhaps @vbcs might post a nicer version for you that was created using AT Assembler (which has variable *names* and *labels* rather than just addresses as yes I realise that the above is more than a little hard to decipher).

We are working on the idea of some quicker random games of chance and will be sure to let people know when we have a simple example that they can study (we might perhaps make a simple "highest random value wins" for two consecutive players).

One limitation that AT hosts do have is how quickly they can generate "random" data (on Burst that is currently set at 14 blocks from memory) so you could have a dice kind of game but it won't be "instant" (the same AT could work much faster on a blockchain that can produce entropy quicker).

For those keen enough to want to create an AT for themselves an AT Assembler has been created (written in Scala) which you can find here: https://github.com/BurstProject/ATAssembler (it is what has been used to create the AT use cases that have been released with Burst).

Although creating ATs in assembly language is clearly no easy thing we include HTML with our AT use cases that actually mean you can create your own instant clone without having to know or care about any code (just fill in a simple form and click a button).

We are still yet to formalise a UI specification system but we hope to have that worked out soon so we can extend our tools to be able to make it very easy for people to create portable ATs with a nice looking UI with the minimum of effort.

Although AT is currently only tied to Burst I think that this link is still worth sharing: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=731923.msg10397472#msg10397472 as we have created a decentralised Crowfunding system (with no 684 pledger limit such as Lighthouse has).

AT could be used with Bitcoin (assuming the core devs decide to implement it) and the way that could be done is described here: http://ciyam.org/at/at_script.html (a general technical description of how Bitcoin Script could be changed to support AT with the addition of just one new op code).

It would of course be best for this to be done on a Bitcoin clone first which is why I created a 20 BTC bounty for just this: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=826263.0 (we have had some interest in the bounty but no-one has yet "bitten the bullet" and actually started implementing it AFAIA).

I'd expect that the core devs would want to see how it goes on a Bitcoin clone (maybe several) for quite a while before they would consider whether or not they would want to add the functionality to Bitcoin itself (and that is a perfectly reasonable attitude to have).

In order to help explain how AT works and to help anyone trying to create ATs who mostly use this forum for information I have created this topic.

*** mods please note that AT has been designed to work on any blockchain so please do not move this into the alts section ***

The current documentation for AT can be found here: http://ciyam.org/at but it is highly technical (we do intend to provide some simpler documentation as we progress).

So if you have any questions about AT (what it can and can't do, how does it work, etc.) please ask away.

P.S. I've made this topic self-moderated as unfortunately I am currently being followed by trolls in every new topic I create (but I will only be removing off-topic or troll posts).

These have been assessed and can likely be replaced with OS versions (it might not be trivial to do this though).

I can assure you all that the AT devs would like nothing more than @qora to re-appear and finish what we he had started.

But we are losing momentum in regards to getting ACCT happening (which could be a game-changer for this whole field).

If @qora does re-appear then he is welcome to continue where he left off but if you guys want AT (and therefore ACCT) any time soon then it might be best to allow a fork (which would not change any rules about the distribution of QORA).

Of course it is up to the Qora community what they want to do - if they don't want a new version created by the AT team then we have no problem with that.

BTW - I own *zero* QORA and stand to make none whichever way the community decides to proceed.

Thanks (it is nice to have your response rather than all the trolling I've been getting with people thinking I am trying to flog an alt-coin or whatever).

And I do agree 100% that the current Bitcoin TPS is not going to be very useful in a few years at all (if it stays as that then it could only end up being a "store of value" system practically).

And this is a point that I have been trying to make (we don't need to put every single transaction in the world into one blockchain).

*sigh* this is why we can't have nice things...

Let's just end this now (the trolling doesn't interest me at all).

The whole cup of coffee thing was never my main point at all but in any case I am sure that you are familiar with "vouchers" (or "coupons") for shopping, restaurants, etc. (and yes maybe even your cup of coffee).

I am certainly not going to try and convince you not to use Bitcoin if it is usable for that purpose.

Do you think that "houses are currency"?

Yet they are a "store of funds" and they can be "transferred" (perhaps I should have used the word *value* instead though).

It doesn't become an altcoin if it doesn't work like a "currency" (i.e. allow for easy transfer of funds for example).

You said yourself that you wouldn't be bothered with having to exchange things just to buy a cup of coffee.

It would if people didn't keep trying to "put words into my mouth" and insist that I am trying to flog an altcoin.