Cryptocurrency, the secure financial transaction technology that is taking the world by storm, is all over the news. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Lightcoin, they are all a form of alternative currency that uses decentralized control known as blockchain to increase the safety of each transaction. Blockchain technology is expected to revolutionize the world and is advancing at an unprecedented pace. That’s why, as University at Buffalo computer science and engineering teaching professor Bina Ramamurthy says, there is urgency in supporting those who will propel it forward.
“We need to educate people at all levels – developers, researchers, users and decision makers – to enable them to innovate and be informed users of the technology,” she says.
Ramamurthy is the instructor of a set of four new online courses about blockchain offered on the Coursera platform, which features 25 million registered users and courses from 150 universities online.
The first three courses of the blockchain specialization are now available, and the fourth will launch June 25. Courses were developed by UBuffalo’s Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE), the business outreach center of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The blockchain enables peer-to-peer transfer of digital assets without any intermediaries. The UBuffalo courses introduce foundational concepts, preparing learners to program on the Ethereum blockchain, design and implement smart contracts, and develop decentralized applications.
They are ideal for the beginning developer who is comfortable programming in a high-level language and desires to advance his/her career in the blockchain field. Courses may also appeal to those who are curious about the Internet-like technology and its vast possibilities.
Courses include:
- Blockchain Basics: 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.
- Smart Contracts: focuses on the computational element of blockchain technology, which allows for implementing user-defined operations of arbitrary complexity that are not possible through plain cryptocurrency protocols. Learners 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.
- Decentralized Applications: concentrates on decentralized applications (Dapps), which provide anyone with access to blockchain features and services. Upon completion, learners are equipped to design and develop end-to-end Dapps.
- Blockchain Platforms: provides an overview of the broader blockchain ecosystem. Upon completion, learners are equipped 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.
Those who sign up for these courses will have access to course content that consists of video lectures complemented by reading materials, assessments, project work and peer interaction. The pace and scale is also up to the user, as learners may sign up for individual courses or the complete series.
There is no charge to access videos and readings. The fee for gaining access to all content – which includes assignments – and the opportunity to earn a certificate in blockchain is $49 per month.
Nice blog , Useful course to learn about block chain. Today , one of major issue is the security, personal information should be kept safe and blockchain does that really well. This is a game changer, hopefully we will be using it everywhere in the coming years.
“Cryptocurrency is rapidly becoming more mainstream in an online transaction, and soon more services will arise…”
This sentence does instantly get us all excited for whatever is coming next. The article is a constructive and informative piece, short and simple which will definitely help numerous individuals to genuinely perceive how it all started and the current market position of the multiple cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin marked the promising beginning of a modern era in the always stable monetary system, with cryptography, smart contacts, and digital signatures ruling the online transactions.
However disruptive the market may deem this newest development, by now, we all can perceive the imperative necessity of such a secured and private financial system.
The blockchain technology, a revolution in the form of cryptocurrency which successfully performing such as crypto major Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Like finance sector blockchain technology is all set to bring revolution in other sectors such as health, supply chain, voting etc sectors where blockchain technology is being implemented. The future of block chain technology seems better as it can reduce lot of paper work and work force.
the advancement of Blockchain technology is unquestionably dispelling all the doomsayers. Blockchain will support a large variety of applications. The foremost renowned is cryptocurrency like Bitcoins and Ethereum. Blockchain applications embody any business transaction. For example; Business order following, offer chain, Banking, and Finance, E-learning, Healthcare, on-line searching portals, Insurance, Travel, Music, Renewable energy, Contract validation so on.
Hi there
I have a query regarding bitcoin mother crypto currencies. Some people are still saying it to be the future of the internet but when we look at the authority it do not seems they are happy. And there is a reason for it. Most of the Bitcoin transactions is for illegal purposes.
How crypto is still goin to be the future?
Really? You really believe that most of the Bitcoin transactions are used for illegal purposes? That’s as far from the truth as humanly possible! And even if it was true, with tone on “if”, remember the time when the internet started to take over the world? What a crappy environment that was. All the bad boys and perverts glued on it right away. Illegal activities, the dark net, silk road, you name it. And here we are today!, should we not accept Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency anymore because the bad boys are using it too? And what about money as you know it? That’s what the bad boys used and are still using, before Bitcoin. And last but not least, today, your money is nothing else than digital currency. How you pay your rent? Your electricity bill? Your phone bill? It’s all digital. No ‘real’ money is exchanged. The disadvantage of the current system is alone that you have to pay a third party (your bank) to do the transaction. As more people are getting interested in not paying a third party for their transactions anymore, the better the future of Bitcoins and other coins will look. Wouldn’t you agree?
Im agree with you..
Blockchain technology has a better security because there is not even a single chance of shutting down of the system. Even the highest level of the financial system are subject to get hacked. Bitcoin in the second hand had never been hacked. the reason is that the blockchain network is secured by a number of computers called nodes and these nodes confirm the transaction on this network.
Bitcoin is glorious but darkweb is ruining its reputation. It is currently the official currency of darkweb. People now confidently buy drugs and guns online, knowing they are totally untraceable. However, just as you mentioned about the coming of the internet, most good things usually start off on a rough patch. Let’s hope that time will fix all these abnormalities of Bitcoin.
all things have two sides as well as technology that can have a positive and negative impact, maybe in the future blockchain technology will also grow by thinking of solutions to your concerns.
yes all technology has weaknesses and strengths, there are always gaps that can be a way for people who have bad intentions