LFS171x Chapter 1 feedback discussion before I edit the markdown

[nathalie-ckc]

Hi @tkuhrt and anyone else working on the LFS171x improvements,

Here are my suggestions for improving Chapter 1. If anyone feels strongly about any of them, please let me know in the next few days. I plan to work on the markdown on Monday Sept 17, afternoon PDT.

1. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) > Blockchains: “A blockchain is a peer-to-peer distributed ledger forged by consensus, combined with a system for "smart contracts" and other assistive technologies.” but then Bitcoin is the next example & Bitcoin doesn’t natively enable smart contracts. I propose to change this to “A blockchain is a peer-to-peer distributed ledger forged by consensus.” and define Smart Contracts later on, when you are talking about blockchains that do enable smart contracts.

2. Video: The Difference between DLT and Blockchains (Brian Behlendorf): I propose to remove this video because it illustrates that the difference is muddy, instead of giving a new student a clear difference. I think we don't want to confuse students so early in the course. I saw a thread about the confusion on the Discussion forum. A better way to explain it is that a blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology. There are other types of DLT, like a hashgraph & tangle. This can be described in text.

3. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) > Blockchains (Continued): Definition of block shouldn’t be split up with mention of bitcoin concepts in between. I propose to put the bitcoin example after block is explained, for better concept flow.

4. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) > Blockchains (Continued): "A block commonly consists of four pieces of metadata: ... The proof of work, also known as a nonce": I would leave out POW, since many blockchains don't use POW consensus & just give 3 pieces of metadata.

5. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) > Blockchains (Continued): I propose to mention that Merkle tree root will be defined on the next page, to remove a brain speed bump for students who don't know what a Merkle tree is. -> "The Merkle tree root for the transactions included in this block. (Next slide will explain Merkle trees)"

[tkuhrt]

I am okay with point 1, 2, 3, and 5.
I am also okay with point 4, but you will need to change the image in the Merkle Tree section to reflect this change.

[alexvicegrab]

On 1) Bitcoin has smart contracts. They just are not Turing Complete

e.g. You can have quite complex functionality on the Bitcoin blockchain using its scripting language (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Colored_Coins)

[nathalie-ckc]

@alexvicegrab : Thanks for the clarification. I won't do (1) then.

@tkuhrt : For (4), looking at the caption on the image in the Merkle Tree section, it's specifically labelled as being a Bitcoin example. So, since Blockchains (Continued) already discusses Bitcoin, how about I just make the statement more specific, to indicate we're talking about the Bitcoin example: "A Bitcoin block commonly consists of four pieces of metadata"?

[nathalie-ckc]

Submitted PR #98 to address this issue