tl;dr: I have created a useful list of links for improving a technical understanding of blockchain technology.
A structured list of technical links
There are many good points of reference out there on the web for learning about blockchain but at the time of writing I don’t recall seeing a single place which pulls them altogether. I haven’t checked out the MOOCs to know if they are of any benefit or not. So I saw a gap to try and create something useful and hopefully present a structure list of resources for learning about blockchain technology. I'm hosting this on one of my personal websites:
Here: Learning about blockchain
Note that this list is not complete and never will be, but I'm aiming for a broad coverage of the core topics with high quality links.
The difficulties in understanding blockchain
At the time of writing an interesting article surface arose which highlighted why Bitcoin is hard to “get”. A deep understanding of Bitcoin and there blockchain requires understanding the intersection of “cryptography, distributed systems, economics and politics”. I have a few small qualms with the article but otherwise agree with the overall spirit of the piece. It also serves to highlight how I came across Bitcoin early: I found myself interested in that intersection of technology before Bitcoin was around.
Admittedly, I’ve also had a lot of learning to do but my interests were already there which is why it seemed so obvious that it was a ‘good’ thing. In this article I am going to link to mostly technical resources rather than anything specifically related to politics or economics. In my opinion those topics are easier to grasp and there is far more material out there to help form an opinion (although not necessarily a correct one ;-) ) on these latter topics.
Strategy for learning?
I think the best way for anyone to learn about blockchain is to start with Bitcoin. It was the first blockchain and has defined a lot of the direction that the space has taken. Moreover, it is simpler to understand (conceptually) than the projects which have followed. If you understand the ins and outs of Bitcoin then you are in a very strong place to understand all the other projects. After that I would look at Ethereum. Part of the reasoning for this is that it is perhaps the most popular blockchain and represents a natural progression from Bitcoin.
Why not a Steemit post?
Well, Steemit is a pain if you wish to modify the article. I expect that I will update this list from time to time which is just impossible on Steemit. So I have created this page as a pointer to my website. :-)
Feedback is always appreciated (if constructive).