I'm a backend engineer, very interested in blockchain development but I'm completely new to the area. I've done a short course on coursera but that was mainly focused on business networks, using hyperledger fabric rather than cryptocurrencies.. and it definitely hasn't put me in a spot to be able to contribute to anything open source.
Are there any books or resources out there that teach you blockchain core concepts, preferably also taking you through the internals of Bitcoin or Ethereum (or any other large network out there)? How did you learn?
I'm a backend engineer too (15+ years in the software industry), and this is how I firstly learn about blockchains, bitcoin, ethereum:
- First, I've read and create my first single-node-very-simple-chain using one of those articles available on the web, like
https://medium.com/crypto-currently/lets-build-the-tiniest-blockchain-e70965a248b - Then, I worked on my own Bitcoin blockchain parser. After the years, Bitcoin specs evolved, and writing a blockchain parser will help you discovering all changes that occured, like compressed keys, p2sh scripts, segwit, bech32 address format, etc. There is a lot of docs about the blockchain format on the
Bitcoin Wiki. The book
Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain is also a must read;
- I'm currently studying ethereum & smart contracts written in solidity. Again, there is a lot of documentation on the internet, with samples, like this document:
How to build your own Ethereum based ERC20 Token.
Have fun in your blockchain journey!
