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December 23, 2021 - April 6, 2022
Secret key (aka private key) The secret number that allows Ethereum users to prove ownership of an account or contracts, by producing a digital signature (see “public key,” “address,” “ECDSA”).
Public keys and private keys are just NUMBERS. Crazy. If you guessed the number of a private key you would be rich
From a more practical perspective, Ethereum is an open source, globally decentralized computing infrastructure that executes programs called smart contracts. It uses a blockchain to synchronize and store the system’s state changes, along with a cryptocurrency called ether to meter and constrain execution resource costs. The Ethereum platform enables developers to build powerful decentralized applications with built-in economic functions. While providing high availability, auditability, transparency, and neutrality, it also reduces or eliminates censorship and reduces certain counterparty
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Ethereum’s purpose is not primarily to be a digital currency payment network. While the digital currency ether is both integral to and necessary for the operation of Ethereum, ether is intended as a utility currency to pay for use of the Ethereum platform as the world computer.
While Bitcoin is a p2p cash turned into SoV from heroic growth, Ethereum has actual utility - it represents access and computation on the most valuable computer in the world
A game-theoretically sound incentivization scheme (e.g., proof-of-work costs plus block rewards) to economically secure the state machine in an open environment
This is a key point, one of the “secret sauces,” or core principles of a blockchain is how to make it economically consistent. Not morally consistent, logically consistent, or opportunistically consistent, ECONOMICALLY consistent. Shows why capitalism is the best system for society, among freedom considerations.
All great innovations solve real problems, and Ethereum is no exception.
Engineering!
Ethereum is also a distributed state machine. But instead of tracking only the state of currency ownership, Ethereum tracks the state transitions of a general-purpose data store,
Ethereum’s groundbreaking innovation is to combine the general-purpose computing architecture of a stored-program computer with a decentralized blockchain, thereby creating a distributed single-state (singleton) world computer. Ethereum programs run “everywhere,” yet produce a common state that is secured by the rules of consensus.
Imagine Ethereum like a global compuer desktop that anyone can access at any time and read all the files, pictures, etc. on it. However, it costs money to move the mouse, create a new file, or double click a file and run it.
An unresponsive printer can be turned off and turned back on again. That is not possible with a public blockchain.
Solana lol
Nevertheless, it is good practice to avoid “putting all your eggs in one basket” and have your Ethereum accounts spread across a couple of wallets.
Ethereum is a global singleton state machine, and transactions are what make that state machine “tick,” changing its state. Contracts don’t run on their own. Ethereum doesn’t run autonomously. Everything starts with a transaction.
Ethereum is the first step in the decentralized computer industry. It is the internet when there was only 1 website and kb of data flow. Imagine if a blockchain could run code from any programming language on a VM, python, c++, go, js, with api calls, db operations, clocks, a sync. It would change the world.
If you call the contract 99 times one thing happens, but on the 100th call something very different happens. The amount of gas you would pay for that depends on how many other transactions have called that function before your transaction is included in a block.
Non-deterministic programming due to contract’s having state!
Note that while you are the owner of the Token contract, the Token contract itself owns the new Faucet contract, so only the Token contract can destroy it.
Robots owning robots
