Ethereum Network 101 Series A – Introduction to the Ethereum Network

I would like to welcome you to Series A of our Ethereum Network 101 Series A where we will strat with an Introduction to the Ethereum Network.

As I stated in my previous post: https://urbancrypto.com/ethereum-network-101/ my goal through this project is to try and understand the complex world of the Ethereum Network and the blockchain technology that powers it. In this post, we will lay out the goal of Series A – the Introduction to the Ethereum Network.

I will attempt to work through the Yellowpaper that Ethereum produced as well as the Ethereum Homestead Documentation 1.0 that Ethereum created to explain the Network. The Yellowpaper is 32 pages long and the Homestead Documentation is 127 pages long. I will provide links to these documents in the resources section below. I will not be explaining the technical algorithmic and mathematical parts of these documents, but rather the basic way the Network works and some of the components in a clear way for you to understand.

Introduction to the Ethereum Network

Let us start with the Abstract at the beginning of the Yellowpaper and start from there. The Abstract states the following:

“The blockchain paradigm when coupled with cryptographically-secured transactions has demonstrated its utility through a number of projects, not least Bitcoin. Each such project can be seen as a simple application on a decentralized, but singleton, compute resource. We can call this paradigm a transactional singleton machine with shared-state. Ethereum implements this paradigm in a generalized manner. Furthermore, it provides a plurality of such resources, each with a distinct state and operating code but able to interact through a message-passing framework with others. We discuss its design, implementation issues, the opportunities it provides and the future hurdles we envisage.”

Remember, this is the abstract that they use to summarize what they are and why they are the future. It seems confusing to me as a novice in blockchain technology. What about you?

Let’s take a look at some of the phrases from the Abstract:

The blockchain paradigm – What is the blockchain paradigm? How does it work?

cryptographically-secured transactions – crypto-what?

Each such project can be seen as a simple application on a decentralized, compute resource – what is decentralized?

These are some of the simple aspects of the abstract. In our first session coming up Ethereum Network 101 Series A – What is the Blockchain, we will start constructing the meaning behind these terms and will work through the series to get an understanding of what the Ethereum Network truly is and how we can use it to benefit from its technology.

I, myself wrote a page on the Ethereum Blockchain: https://urbancrypto.com/ethereum-blockchain/ but even this needs explanation. Have a look if you would like. We aim to clarify that page further with this series.

See you for the next session soon.

Resouces

Ethereum Yellowpaper

Ethereum Homestead Documentation Release 0.1