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Mastering Blockchain

You're reading from   Mastering Blockchain A deep dive into distributed ledgers, consensus protocols, smart contracts, DApps, cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, and more

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Product type Paperback
Published in Aug 2020
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781839213199
Length 816 pages
Edition 3rd Edition
Languages
Concepts
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Author (1):
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Imran Bashir Imran Bashir
Author Profile Icon Imran Bashir
Imran Bashir
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Table of Contents (24) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Blockchain 101 2. Decentralization FREE CHAPTER 3. Symmetric Cryptography 4. Public Key Cryptography 5. Consensus Algorithms 6. Introducing Bitcoin 7. The Bitcoin Network and Payments 8. Bitcoin Clients and APIs 9. Alternative Coins 10. Smart Contracts 11. Ethereum 101 12. Further Ethereum 13. Ethereum Development Environment 14. Development Tools and Frameworks 15. Introducing Web3 16. Serenity 17. Hyperledger 18. Tokenization 19. Blockchain – Outside of Currencies 20. Enterprise Blockchain 21. Scalability and Other Challenges 22. Current Landscape and What's Next 23. Index

Definition

There are many definitions of smart contracts. An online search reveals many definitions. However, while the definitions provided online at various sources are correct and useful, in my opinion, they are not complete. It is crucial to properly and completely define what a smart contract is. The following is my attempt to provide a comprehensive generalized definition of a smart contract:

A smart contract is a secure and unstoppable computer program representing an agreement that is automatically executable and enforceable.

Dissecting this definition reveals that a smart contract is, fundamentally, a computer program that is written in a language that a computer or target machine can understand. Also, it encompasses agreements between parties in the form of business logic. Another fundamental idea is that smart contracts are automatically executed according to the instruction that is coded in, for example, when certain conditions satisfy. They are enforceable...

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