Blockchain

Offered By: University at Buffalo via Coursera

Course Description

Overview

This specialization introduces blockchain, a revolutionary technology that enables peer-to-peer transfer of digital assets without any intermediaries, and is predicted to be just as impactful as the Internet. More specifically, it prepares learners to program on the Ethereum blockchain. The four courses provide learners with (i) an understanding and working knowledge of foundational blockchain concepts, (ii) a skill set for designing and implementing smart contracts, (iii) methods for developing decentralized applications on the blockchain, and (iv) information about the ongoing specific industry-wide blockchain frameworks. The specialization covers a range of essential topics, from the cryptographic underpinnings of blockchain technology to enabling decentralized applications on a private Ethereum blockchain platform. It is ideal for programmers and designers involved in developing and implementing blockchain applications, and anyone who is interested in understanding its potential.

Syllabus

Course 1: Blockchain Basics
- This first course of the Blockchain specialization provides a broad overview of the essential concepts of blockchain technology – by ... Enroll for free.

Course 2: Smart Contracts
- This second course of the Blockchain specialization will help you design, code, deploy and execute a smart contract – the computational ... Enroll for free.

Course 3: Decentralized Applications (Dapps)
- This third course of the Blockchain specialization prepares you to design and develop end-to-end decentralized applications (Dapps) – which ... Enroll for free.

Course 4: Blockchain Platforms
- This fourth course of the Blockchain specialization provides learners with an understanding of the broader blockchain ecosystem. Learners ... Enroll for free.

Courses

0 reviews
16 hours 20 minutes
View details

This fourth course of the Blockchain specialization provides learners with an understanding of the broader blockchain ecosystem. Learners are introduced to other blockchain platforms, details of two decentralized application use cases, and challenges such as privacy and scalability. They are prepared to discuss permissioned blockchain architectures of Hyperledger and Microsoft Azure's blockchain as a service model and analyze the Augur and Grid+ decentralized application platforms. Course material includes emerging alternative decentralization models such as IPFS and Hashgraph, challenges in broader blockchain adoption, and continuous improvement solutions.
1 review
15 hours 30 minutes
View details

This first course of the Blockchain specialization provides a broad overview of the essential concepts of blockchain technology – by initially exploring the Bitcoin protocol followed by the Ethereum protocol – to lay the foundation necessary for developing applications and programming. You will be equipped with the knowledge needed to create nodes on your personal Ethereum blockchain, create accounts, unlock accounts, mine, transact, transfer Ethers, and check balances. You will learn about the decentralized peer-to-peer network, an immutable distributed ledger and the trust model that defines a blockchain. This course enables you to explain basic components of a blockchain (transaction, block, block header, and the chain) its operations (verification, validation, and consensus model) underlying algorithms, and essentials of trust (hard fork and soft fork). Content includes the hashing and cryptography foundations indispensable to blockchain programming, which is the focus of two subsequent specialization courses, Smart Contracts and Decentralized Applications (Dapps). You will work on a virtual machine image, specifically created for this course, to build an Ethereum test chain and operate on the chain. This hands-on activity will help you understand the workings of a blockchain, its transactions, blocks and mining. Main concepts are delivered through videos, demos and hands-on exercises.
0 reviews
17 hours 7 minutes
View details

This second course of the Blockchain specialization will help you design, code, deploy and execute a smart contract – the computational element of the blockchain technology. Smart contracts allow for implementing user-defined operations of arbitrary complexity that are not possible through plain cryptocurrency protocols. They allow users to implement conditions, rules and policies of the domain applications. Smart contracts are a powerful feature that, when properly designed and coded, can result in autonomous, efficient and transparent systems. You will design and program smart contracts in Solidity language, test and deploy them in the Remix development environment, and invoke them from a simple web interface that Remix provides. This course features best practices for designing solutions with smart contracts using Solidity and Remix IDE. Main concepts are delivered through videos, demos and hands-on exercises.
0 reviews
17 hours 59 minutes
View details

This third course of the Blockchain specialization prepares you to design and develop end-to-end decentralized applications (Dapps) – which provide anyone with access to the blockchain’s features and services. You will use Truffle IDE, smart contracts, a simple web client and a MetaMask client. You will learn about the architecture of a Dapp: the front-end client interface, backed by the blockchain and smart contracts. The course covers the basic design of a Dapp, Truffle development process and commands (init, develop, test and migrate), test-driven development of Dapp, Dapp application models and emerging standards that are essential for predictable Dapp behavior. Main concepts are delivered through videos, demos and hands-on exercises.

Taught by

Bina Ramamurthy