Author: Jeremy Spilman 2013-10-24 19:43:15
Published on: 2013-10-24T19:43:15+00:00
The article is a discussion on the protocols and tools required to write code for Bitcoin. The author emphasizes that the protocol specification on the wiki was hugely valuable when writing client and server code, along with occasional questions on #bitcoin-dev and coding until unit tests pass. The author also shares personal experience with the Bitcoind console and debug logs, as well as sites like blockchain.info and blockexplorer.com, being hugely helpful for debugging raw and live transactions while working on private client code. The author believes that the majority of client code development is actually people writing 'agents' not end-user P2P wallets, and they tend to be written to connect to a single bitcoind acting as a proxy to the network. However, the author did speak the P2P protocol to bitcoind versus using other options like ZeroMQ but it still didn't take long to get headers, blocks, and transactions downloading.Moreover, the author talks about Bitcoin taking some time to "grok" when you first approach, more than a day, less than a month, and really no amount of reading documentation or specs will get you to that "ah ha" moment. It takes time to find everything and assimilate all that knowledge. It also helps that the community is extremely willing to help and answer technical questions, even when you're working on your own private client code. Furthermore, the author highlights the difficulty in writing BIPs and how they impose a cost on all active developers. For a BIP to be valuable, often it requires widespread or even consensus adoption. Kind of like JPK's HD wallet encryption proposal, which the author loves, and tried to contribute to in the forums, but they can totally understand the headwinds for making progress on such BIPs. Lastly, the author thinks that everything you need is available, but not all in one place. The current support systems worked very well for the author. They were able to accomplish all their goals, and they would even say it was a pleasure. The author hopes to be able to jump back in and do more with Bitcoin soon.
Updated on: 2023-06-07T17:56:43.583788+00:00