Program Overview

Overview of the Program

The CS-394B program, offered in Spring 2018, focuses on Blockchain Systems and Cryptocurrencies. This course explores the blockchain technology, introduced in 2008, which has shown its potential as a distributed ledger for recording monetary transactions. The program delves into the technical aspects of blockchain technologies and distributed consensus, covering areas such as cryptography, Merkle trees, blockchain, distributed consensus, mining, incentives, proof of work, proof of stake, economics, security, smart contracts, and applications.

Program Objectives

The objectives of the program are to provide students with the conceptual foundations to engineer secure software that interacts with the blockchain, integrate ideas from the blockchain into their own projects, comprehend and critique relevant research papers in the area of blockchain systems, present research ideas orally and in writing, and defend their research approach, design decisions, and evaluation methods.

Program Requirements

To enroll in the program, students should have basic computer science knowledge and good programming skills. Essential prerequisites include:

• Knowledge of Computing Systems and Concurrency (CS 240) or an equivalent course, or instructor consent.
• Knowledge and comfort with systems programming.
• Background in cryptography is helpful but not necessary, as concepts from cryptography will be introduced during the class.
• A basic understanding of probability theory and modular arithmetic will be helpful.

Program Structure

The program consists of:

• Lectures: Sundays and Wednesdays, 4:00pm - 5:30pm, in Building 9, Room 3137.
• Instructors: Professor Marco Canini, with office hours available by appointment.
• Grading: Based on a term-long project (40%), programming assignments (25%), paper reviews (15%), presentations (15%), and in-class participation (5%).

Textbooks and Resources

No textbook is required for the class. The main textbook reference is "Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies" by Arvind Narayanan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten, Andrew Miller, and Steven Goldfeder. Additional material includes video lectures and papers, which will be made available through the program.