The Introduction to Blockchain and Ethereum course begins by explaining Bitcoin, Altcoins, and Ethereum, followed by taking you through distributed programming using the Solidity language on the Ethereum blockchain.

In this course, you will learn how to build distributed applications that resolve data ownership issues when working with transactions between multiple parties. Blockchain applications provide a single-shared ledger to eliminate trust issues involving multiple stakeholders. With the help of Introduction to Blockchain and Ethereum, you’ll learn how to create distributed blockchain applications which do not depend on a central server or datacenter.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to write, compile, and deploy your own smart contracts to the Ethereum blockchain.

Lesson 1: Ethereum Blockchain

• Introducing the Ethereum Blockchain
• Cryptology and Keys
• Opening an Ethereum Account
• The Ethereum Network, Nodes, and Mining
• Transactions and Blocks
• Sending and Checking Transactions

Lesson 2: Learning Solidity 

• The Solidity Language
• Your First Smart Contract
• Basic Solidity
• Testing Solidity

Lesson 3: Solidity Contracts

• Your First dApp
• Using an Oracle

The Introduction to Blockchain and Ethereum course is ideal for you if you want to get to grips with blockchain technology and develop your own distributed applications with smart contracts written in Solidity. Prior exposure to an object-oriented programming language such as JavaScript is needed, as you’ll cover the basics before getting straight to work.

Hardware:

• Intel Core i3 processor or equivalent
• 2 GB RAM (1.5 GB if running on a virtual machine)
• 10 GB available hard disk space
• 5400 RPM hard disk drive
• DirectX 9-capable video card (1024 x 768 or higher resolution)
• Internet connection

Software:

• Operating System: Windows 8 or higher (64-bit version)
• Mist (https://github.com/ethereum/mist/releases/)
• Truffle ( http://truffleframework.com/)