About this Course

This course is an extensive in-depth journey into Tezos, a public blockchain based on a pure proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Tezos was designed to be modular to enable the protocol to more efficiently evolve via on-chain protocol upgrades where all stakeholders have the option to participate in governance either directly or indirectly.

Furthermore, as Tezos is a pure PoS protocol, all stakeholders have the ability to participate in consensus either directly - by staking themselves, or indirectly - by delegating their stake to others.

When you’re learning to develop on Tezos, you’ll create smart contracts in Michelson, SmartPy and LIGO. Additionally, you will learn how to write Tezos clients, plus you will get hands-on experience and build a use case from scratch.

Curriculum

Module 1 - Blockchain Foundations

This module focuses on the basics of blockchain technology and compares leading blockchains and DLT platforms. This is a refresher intended to provide context for participants who know and a clear introduction for those who are new to this paradigm.

• What is blockchain technology?
• How do public blockchains work?
• Overview of popular consensus mechanisms
• Key cryptography concepts

Module 2 - Getting to Know Tezos

Tezos introduces new concepts that differ from traditional approaches to system architecture. We will learn Tezos vocabulary and get acquainted with the architecture. You will also run your first node and interact with it using the command line interface and RPC calls.

• Key Tezos overview
• Introduction
• Consensus
• Tezos Alphanet
• Alphanet.sh
• Command Line Interface
• JSON/RPC interface

Module 3 - Smart Contracts I

It is time to write and deploy smart contracts! We will start to code smart contracts with SmartPy in this module.

• Introduction
• Python
• Basics
• Modules
• SmartPy

Module 4 - Clients

A regular user will not want to use the command line interface, so in this module we will see how you can write clients which can communicate with a Tezos network.

• Conseil
• ConseilPy
• ConseilJS
• Eztz

Module 5 - Project

Armed with the knowledge gained from previous modules you will implement a basic use case.

• Use Case
• Smart Contract
• Client

Module 6 - Smart Contracts II

In this module we will take a deeper look into the details of smart contracts on Tezos, including the core language Michelson.

• OCaml
• Basics
• Modules
• Michelson
• Analyse compiled code of projects smart contract
• Ligo
• Pascaligo
• Cameligo
• Redo Project Smart Contract

Module 7 - Ethics & Future Implications

The final module covers ethics - how to navigate the conflicting interests and agendas that exist in spite, and at times because, of blockchain technology.

• Immutability
• Neutrality
• Decentralisation
• Research & Development
• Closing remarks

Final Exam

The final exam consists of a project, which is split up into 2 parts. The first part aims to highlight your understanding of the underlying concepts covered throughout the course, and second part examines your command of the various tools.

Your course team

Murat Anil Oner

Anil is a self-taught, lifelong developer with a MSc in Biophysics from the Technical University Munich. He has worked with many programming languages (and built his own), higher mathematics, and has been part of research projects in particle physics, electrotechnics and computer-based simulations. He has experience with embedded systems, cryptography and has even written code for a particle accelerator.

Xavier Lepretre

Xavier is a software and infrastructure engineer. Over the past 15 years, he has coded, deployed, customised, troubleshot, and supported various software systems. He has also guided, educated, taught, and coached customers across Asia. Xavier used to be based in Thailand and Singapore. For more than four years now, he has been a keen member of the blockchain community.

Rob Hitchens

Rob has worn many hats in his extensive IT career including experience designing, constructing, implementing and operating innovative software solutions, developing training programs and supporting online education platforms. Rob has been dabbling in blockchain technology since the early days and quickly recognised the disruptive potential of Smart Contracts and decentralised apps. Since 2016, Rob has been absorbing all things related to Smart Contracts and supporting developers on their quest to master this technology.