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Ask HN: What computer science concepts should I learn to work with Blockchain?

18 points by leni1 ↗ HN
Hi HN!

I am looking to get comfortable using Blockchain technology over the coming year. What computer science concepts should I be comfortable with/seek to master?

A bit about me: I am a self taught developer with a background that is general IT. I mostly use HTML, CSS, Python and of late I have been dipping my toes in JavaScript as well as Node.js.

15 comments

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tastroder
Merkle trees and hash functions mostly. Any advanced data structure course curriculum will likely do. Or go the out of the box route and toy around with AWS hyperledger and the like.

Pick up a marketing course while you're at it, the number of people using Blockchain technology for technically sound reasons is pretty small.

leni1
Hehehe... Thanks ;)
decentralised
Some level of cryptography (hash functions and signatures), some distributed computing (consensus algorithms, P2P networking), some tech/economics (game theory, mechanism design).

If you start with Ethereum, the js ecosystem around it is by far the most advanced in the blockchain space and you can hit the ground running pretty fast building dApps while you learn more about the protocols that make them interesting.

stephenr
I’d suggest a healthy grasp of scepticism and an understanding of what buzzworditis is.

Seriously.

rasz
Yes, read up on computer fraud, scams, ponzi and pyramid schemes.
leni1
I think I have the former and the later is why I want to understand the technology. I am not really after having a buzzword on my resume but more understanding of the technology and what problems it can solve (or the ability to identify problems that I can use it for)
cvaidya1986
It would be funny if you come up with a great blockchain startup by actually understanding the technology and implementing it at scale on a real problem and make more money than the trading hype cycle.
api
Nobody mentioned game theory, so I will mention game theory. Having a basic intuition for it helps in understanding the fine points of consensus etc.