November 2021
Intermediate to advanced
464 pages
12h 6m
English
Content preview from Mastering the Lightning Network
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Chapter 1. Introduction
Welcome to Mastering the Lightning Network!
The Lightning Network (often abbreviated as LN), is changing the way people exchange value online, and it’s one of the most exciting advancements to happen in Bitcoin’s history. Today, in 2021, the Lightning Network is still in its infancy. The Lightning Network is a protocol for using Bitcoin in a smart and nonobvious way. It is a second layer technology on top of Bitcoin.
The concept of the Lightning Network was proposed in 2015, and the first implementation was launched in 2018. As of 2021, we’re only beginning to see the opportunities the Lightning Network provides to Bitcoin, including improved privacy, speed, and scale. With core knowledge of the Lightning Network, you can help shape the future of the network while also building opportunities for yourself.
We assume you already have some basic knowledge about Bitcoin, but if not, don’t worry—we will explain the most important Bitcoin concepts, those you must know to understand the Lightning Network, in Appendix A. If you want to learn more about Bitcoin, you can read Mastering Bitcoin, 2nd edition, by Andreas M. Antonopoulos (O’Reilly), available for free online.
While the bulk of this book is written for programmers, the first few chapters are written to be approachable by anyone regardless of technical experience. In this chapter, we’ll start with some terminology, then move to look at trust and its application in these systems, and finally we’ll discuss ...
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I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.