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doolittle (OP)
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July 22, 2014, 04:30:46 AM |
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What high-quality books (more than just 20page introductions in ridiculously large letters) on Bitcoin do you know and like?
I know
1. Great Wall of Numbers by Tim Swanson, that focuses on Bitcoin 2.0
2. Anonymous Bitcoin by Kristov Atlas, that focuses as the name implies on Anonymity
3. Living on Bitcoin in the Real World, by Kashmir Hill
(4. Mastering Bitcoin, not out yet)
Any (self-published) books of sufficient length 60+ pages I have missed?
(Yeah, I know Bitcoin is a dynamic topic, so iti si difficult to get out books that are up to date. No smart-ass philosophical discussion please)
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remotemass
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July 22, 2014, 12:49:32 PM |
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I would love a book with the following title:
"The Bitcoin-Qt source code bible (a Self-study method)"
There is nothing like that, though, I'm afraid.
And I wouldn't be too surprised if we will still be missing such in 20 years time because coders will alaways think the code is self-explanatory to anyone that can read code. I disagree. I think a good book could help you leverage your C++ knowledge along making the Bitcoin-Qt code more understandable.
I keep insisting on better code comments and videos helping us out to understand the bitcoin-Qt code.
I have been insisting on it for years. No luck...
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{ Imagine a sequence of bits generated from the first decimal place of the square roots of whole integers that are irrational numbers. If the decimal falls between 0 and 5, it's considered bit 0, and if it falls between 5 and 10, it's considered bit 1. This sequence from a simple integer count of contiguous irrationals and their logical decimal expansion of the first decimal place is called the 'main irrational stream.' Our goal is to design a physical and optical computing system system that can detect when this stream starts matching a specific pattern of a given size of bits. bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=166760.0 } Satoshi did use a friend class in C++ and put a comment on the code saying: "This is why people hate C++".
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DjPxH
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July 22, 2014, 12:51:32 PM |
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Read the paper by Sathoshi Nakamoto. It covers the basic principle of the whole experiment. Those principles haven't changed. The core bitcoin system also remains the same. The rest, though, is in heavy flux and books will be quickly outdated!
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PRIMEDICE The Premier Bitcoin Gambling Experience @PrimeDice
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ljudotina
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July 22, 2014, 12:53:55 PM |
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BTC is too young to have High Quality books as there are no real experts with long time expirience in it, as..well...BTC itself is not around long enough. And yes...remotemass is correct....coders will always saY: "Best book about bitcoin you can get is source code itself", and yes, i agree there is need for something like that. There is a document that goes that path here: https://github.com/minium/Bitcoin-Spec |
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DjPxH
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July 22, 2014, 12:55:37 PM |
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BTC is too young to have High Quality books as there are no real experts with long time expirience in it, as..well...BTC itself is not around long enough. And yes...remotemass is correct....coders will always saY: "Best book about bitcoin you can get is source code itself", and yes, i agree there is need for something like that. There is a document that goes that path here: https://github.com/minium/Bitcoin-SpecPeople often need multiple years to write a good book. Even if someone started a book on bitcoin back in 2009 when the paper was released, they would've maybe just finished the first chapter. Donald Knuth hasn't even finished his series! Heck, he even invented a typesetting system (everyone uses nowadays) in order to write that book! |
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PRIMEDICE The Premier Bitcoin Gambling Experience @PrimeDice
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remotemass
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July 22, 2014, 01:06:40 PM |
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Read the paper by Sathoshi Nakamoto. It covers the basic principle of the whole experiment. Those principles haven't changed. The core bitcoin system also remains the same. The rest, though, is in heavy flux and books will be quickly outdated!
I have read the paper many, many, times. Sure. I understand 95% of it, I would say. In the meantime, I can hardly say I understand 40% of the Bitcoin-Qt code. Probably much less, actually. I really miss some books to help me out... |
{ Imagine a sequence of bits generated from the first decimal place of the square roots of whole integers that are irrational numbers. If the decimal falls between 0 and 5, it's considered bit 0, and if it falls between 5 and 10, it's considered bit 1. This sequence from a simple integer count of contiguous irrationals and their logical decimal expansion of the first decimal place is called the 'main irrational stream.' Our goal is to design a physical and optical computing system system that can detect when this stream starts matching a specific pattern of a given size of bits. bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=166760.0 } Satoshi did use a friend class in C++ and put a comment on the code saying: "This is why people hate C++".
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DjPxH
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July 22, 2014, 01:08:11 PM |
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Read the paper by Sathoshi Nakamoto. It covers the basic principle of the whole experiment. Those principles haven't changed. The core bitcoin system also remains the same. The rest, though, is in heavy flux and books will be quickly outdated!
I have read the paper many, many, times. Sure. I understand 95% of it, I would say. In the meantime, I can hardly say I understand 40% of the Bitcoin-Qt code. Probably much less, actually. I really miss some books to help me out... I gotta admit I haven't looked into the Qt code myself. But I hear it's not that well documented, is it? |
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PRIMEDICE The Premier Bitcoin Gambling Experience @PrimeDice
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remotemass
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July 22, 2014, 01:15:15 PM |
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I gotta admit I haven't looked into the Qt code myself. But I hear it's not that well documented, is it?
Apart from "Satoshi Client Operation: Overview" and the wiki articles on Bitcoin protocol, etc., there's not much that I know of. Maybe other projects documentation, like the java client can help a little but not much, IMO. Would be great a Google hangout of developers (core ones would be great!) talking about the code in a screencast showing every line of code. |
{ Imagine a sequence of bits generated from the first decimal place of the square roots of whole integers that are irrational numbers. If the decimal falls between 0 and 5, it's considered bit 0, and if it falls between 5 and 10, it's considered bit 1. This sequence from a simple integer count of contiguous irrationals and their logical decimal expansion of the first decimal place is called the 'main irrational stream.' Our goal is to design a physical and optical computing system system that can detect when this stream starts matching a specific pattern of a given size of bits. bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=166760.0 } Satoshi did use a friend class in C++ and put a comment on the code saying: "This is why people hate C++".
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hellscabane
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July 22, 2014, 02:38:02 PM |
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BTC is too young to have High Quality books as there are no real experts with long time expirience in it, as..well...BTC itself is not around long enough. And yes...remotemass is correct....coders will always saY: "Best book about bitcoin you can get is source code itself", and yes, i agree there is need for something like that. There is a document that goes that path here: https://github.com/minium/Bitcoin-SpecPeople often need multiple years to write a good book. Even if someone started a book on bitcoin back in 2009 when the paper was released, they would've maybe just finished the first chapter. Donald Knuth hasn't even finished his series! Heck, he even invented a typesetting system (everyone uses nowadays) in order to write that book! I agree and yet disagree with the idea that there are any experts in the realm of bitcoin. From the technical side, the amount of expertise that has been put into the protocol (whether through contribution/development or vetting) is quite significant. The same can also be said about bitcoin from a market perspective with major investment firms studying bitcoin and its market. At the same time, I do understand the argument that bitcoin hasn't been around long enough to make quality content, but the same could be said about social networking and yet there was a plethora of content created during its early years. |
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DjPxH
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July 22, 2014, 02:52:15 PM |
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BTC is too young to have High Quality books as there are no real experts with long time expirience in it, as..well...BTC itself is not around long enough. And yes...remotemass is correct....coders will always saY: "Best book about bitcoin you can get is source code itself", and yes, i agree there is need for something like that. There is a document that goes that path here: https://github.com/minium/Bitcoin-SpecPeople often need multiple years to write a good book. Even if someone started a book on bitcoin back in 2009 when the paper was released, they would've maybe just finished the first chapter. Donald Knuth hasn't even finished his series! Heck, he even invented a typesetting system (everyone uses nowadays) in order to write that book! I agree and yet disagree with the idea that there are any experts in the realm of bitcoin. From the technical side, the amount of expertise that has been put into the protocol (whether through contribution/development or vetting) is quite significant. The same can also be said about bitcoin from a market perspective with major investment firms studying bitcoin and its market. At the same time, I do understand the argument that bitcoin hasn't been around long enough to make quality content, but the same could be said about social networking and yet there was a plethora of content created during its early years. Social networks are several degrees of magnitude bigger than bitcoin, though. I wonder how much academic research there actually is when it comes to Bitcoin. Social networks are an interesting thing when it comes to psychology as well! |
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PRIMEDICE The Premier Bitcoin Gambling Experience @PrimeDice
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hellscabane
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July 22, 2014, 03:27:16 PM |
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Social networks are several degrees of magnitude bigger than bitcoin, though. I wonder how much academic research there actually is when it comes to Bitcoin. Social networks are an interesting thing when it comes to psychology as well!
Very true that social networks are significantly larger and in vastly more use. But there has been quite a number of studies involving bitcoin in academia already too (just dig through the pressers in the sub-forums). I remember a psychological study based on the whole pirateat40 ponzi scheme, and I've seen multiple economic analyses of bitcoins in relation to economies and financial markets. Plus there is the whole Austrian school of economics ideals versus capitalistic systems or free market ideals. There are a lot of things that have been found and that could be expounded on in regards to bitcoin. The trick is having someone hunker down and write it all in a polished format. |
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paucho
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August 04, 2014, 10:19:30 PM |
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just these : Living on Bitcoin in the Real World, by Kashmir Hill
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keithers
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This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
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August 04, 2014, 10:23:02 PM |
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Have any of you read the first few chapters that are available of Andreas's book? I want to read it, but was going to wait until it was complete. I have used BTC for a decent amount of time, but I will be the first to admit that there is a lot about cryptos that I don't understand...
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shawshankinmate37927
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August 04, 2014, 10:40:39 PM |
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"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." - Henry Ford
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CoinHeavy
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August 04, 2014, 11:12:14 PM |
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Thanks for the link to the book of satoshi.
Watching this thread; I'm sure we all hope that more entries are soon to follow.
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desticy
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www.cd3d.app
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August 05, 2014, 03:30:11 AM |
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BTC is too young to have High Quality books as there are no real experts with long time expirience in it, as..well...BTC itself is not around long enough. And yes...remotemass is correct....coders will always saY: "Best book about bitcoin you can get is source code itself", and yes, i agree there is need for something like that. There is a document that goes that path here: https://github.com/minium/Bitcoin-SpecPeople often need multiple years to write a good book. Even if someone started a book on bitcoin back in 2009 when the paper was released, they would've maybe just finished the first chapter. Donald Knuth hasn't even finished his series! Heck, he even invented a typesetting system (everyone uses nowadays) in order to write that book! I agree and yet disagree with the idea that there are any experts in the realm of bitcoin. From the technical side, the amount of expertise that has been put into the protocol (whether through contribution/development or vetting) is quite significant. The same can also be said about bitcoin from a market perspective with major investment firms studying bitcoin and its market. At the same time, I do understand the argument that bitcoin hasn't been around long enough to make quality content, but the same could be said about social networking and yet there was a plethora of content created during its early years. Social networks are several degrees of magnitude bigger than bitcoin, though. I wonder how much academic research there actually is when it comes to Bitcoin. Social networks are an interesting thing when it comes to psychology as well! this is 2014, and 2015 is coming, the book about bitcoin will be array for you reading |
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OROBTC
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August 05, 2014, 05:05:40 AM |
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... I would be happy enough to read a paper or book on "How to Interpret Transactions at blockchain.info". Some of those are very hard to understand. |
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