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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Blockchain Basics by University at Buffalo

4.6
stars
7,506 ratings

About the Course

This first course of the Blockchain specialization provides a broad overview of the essential concepts of blockchain technology – by initially exploring the Bitcoin protocol followed by the Ethereum protocol – to lay the foundation necessary for developing applications and programming. You will be equipped with the knowledge needed to create nodes on your personal Ethereum blockchain, create accounts, unlock accounts, mine, transact, transfer Ethers, and check balances. You will learn about the decentralized peer-to-peer network, an immutable distributed ledger and the trust model that defines a blockchain. This course enables you to explain basic components of a blockchain (transaction, block, block header, and the chain) its operations (verification, validation, and consensus model) underlying algorithms, and essentials of trust (hard fork and soft fork). Content includes the hashing and cryptography foundations indispensable to blockchain programming, which is the focus of two subsequent specialization courses, Smart Contracts and Decentralized Applications (Dapps). You will work on a virtual machine image, specifically created for this course, to build an Ethereum test chain and operate on the chain. This hands-on activity will help you understand the workings of a blockchain, its transactions, blocks and mining. Main concepts are delivered through videos, demos and hands-on exercises....

Top reviews

TT

Nov 18, 2018

This is an introductory course to Blockchain. The supplemented material (in other words self-study) is excellent and in my opinion is the only way to master the concepts and details of this discipline

U

Dec 31, 2019

One of the Best course for Absolutely Beginners :-) Discussed Core Fundamental Factors of Blockchain of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Amazing Resources & Really Helpful Content. Thanks Bina Ramamurthy Ma'am.

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1376 - 1400 of 1,877 Reviews for Blockchain Basics

By Bastián B G

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Sep 14, 2021

Buen curso como introducción a todo el mundillo de Blockchain. Tuve problemas haciendo el proyecto final ya que no son muy certeras las instrucciones para la descarga del programa principal, como recomendación sería hacer un video para cada uno de los sistemas operativos.

By James L

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Jun 21, 2021

This course was truly enlightening to the shift that is the blockchain. I'm looking forward to courses 2-4. Some articles were dead links or removed by webpages owners beyond that error free learning to be patient with yourself and instructions for the last assignment.

By Daniel T

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Apr 30, 2020

Pretty good intro to blockchain, I have two comments: 1. please include more graphic illustration of the ethereum running principles instead of using long documents and hands on project 2. It would be better if there is a project env in Mac or directly under windows.

By Akshay K

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Aug 27, 2018

I agree that the course is good but I would have liked to see more contents in videos and more questions in quizzes which are well thought out. I am still not very much clear about a Block header and Merkle Tree. Would hit up the resources once more and ask in Forum.

By Gowrishankar G

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Aug 7, 2020

Highly informative and helpful course on Blockchain. Concepts explained clearly and made easy to understand. Good quizzes at the end of each lesson. On hands experience to explore existing Ethereum and Bitcoin networks. Could have had more video material. Thank you.

By Sanjay C [

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Aug 1, 2020

The course was quite good, the last assignment was a bit challenging for a person not having an IT or Computers background, it took good efforts , first to understand the content and then to complete. Overall it was an exciting course and very good for beginners.

By Nikita M

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Feb 22, 2021

The course provides good introduction to blockchain technology. Some minor drawbacks might be: too "academic" style of presenting information; final project brings little value since it is all about launching virtual machine and clicking buttons inside web app.

By John S

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Aug 2, 2020

Generally, I am not an online student kind, but I like this course. Well organized, the videos were quite explanatory and the test were challenging. It needs to update some broken links and I think a couple of test questions are wrong, but I recommend it 100%.

By Rohan M

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Feb 4, 2019

Course is nicely designed.Prof. has a good command over the subject and delivery of to the audience. Quiz can be sometimes tricky.

Assignment Environment creation was tough. Had to do a lot of digging on the net to find how to solve the VM issue. But worth it.

By Saroj l

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Feb 26, 2022

Great intro course for the basics on blockchain. There are lectures where concepts of Bitcoin and Ethereum are mixed- especially on merkle tree chapter. Specifying Bitcoin details, and then moving to Eth details then summarizing the common would be helpful.

By Celso T

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Jun 13, 2019

The course is good, you'll learn a lot in fact. But I can tell you that the best thing about this course are the outside materials that it points to. Lots of good articles to read and cool videos to help you fully understand what you saw on video class.

By Yerramsetti S

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Jul 20, 2020

It was very insightful for a beginner to start with. It covers all the cornerstones for the understanding of the blockchain system. I would have liked it if it had more practical assignments which would help us understand its use in the real world.

By Saipriya S M

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Mar 21, 2019

Liked the course and congrats to all in the Project instructions need one update. The answers are there in forum to run the VM in detached mode. If than can be mentioned in the instructions pdf it will be helpful. Thank you for the course.

By Nishit S

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May 7, 2020

nice introduction to blockchain and ethereum basics, good amount of resources are provided to read and understand the various aspects running behind the blockchain and ethereum. Looking forward for the next course in this specialization

By Eshani A

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Sep 3, 2019

Its a great coure which really provided all the basic knowledge one needs to know about blockchains. After the course I can confidently say that I know how blockchain works. Looking forward to other courses in this specialization.

By Hwajun J

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Oct 9, 2018

Great course with great compilations of good resources. Optional readings are a must if you want to deepen your understanding. I dropped one star because the transcripts of this course are horrific. Otherwise, it is a good course

By Sven A

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Jul 23, 2018

The course filled its purpose: I learned the basics. But I won't give 5 stars because I wasn't able to comprehend what was the home assingment about and I do not still have general view how the blockchain works as a technology.

By Desmond N N

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Dec 8, 2021

It needs an assistant to reply to student's questions and errors. Remix IDE is not what it used to be at the time of recording this course. Needs course update very badly. The concepts and resources are still very pertinent.

By Jeff G

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Mar 10, 2024

The course is still relevant and provides a sound basis for what I expect will follow but there lots of broken links and references to actions that were in the future but that are now in the past that need to be cleaned up.

By AMAL A

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May 1, 2020

I find this course very enriching , and interesting . I advise anyone wishing to discover a new trend technology to consult this course , thanks to the instructor , and thanks to coursera for giving us this opportunity !

By Sameh M

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Sep 9, 2019

it was a good start in blockchain but the videos had very low ability in demonstrate the topics the optional resources were great but need to be more specific and less in count because a lot of them had same information

By Carine M

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Apr 5, 2022

Courses lecture was top notched and courses outline well structure. I took one star off for the practical assignment because the transactions requirement didn't provide instructions on how to actual fund the accounts.

By Dimitri P

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Feb 13, 2019

This is a good introductory course. The set of materials and especially additional reading resources is very good to get one started. The hands-on assignment instructions at the end of the course were quite confusing.

By Paarth S D

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May 25, 2020

The course material which was presented throughout the course was exceptional and friendly to a basic beginner like me. The course was simple and direct, clearing much of the basics required to delve into blockchain.

By Jyotsna S

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Feb 2, 2019

The course was informative and concise with good resources listed. However, the assignment in the end took too much time in the setup step itself. I will add to the discussion how my problems were fixed during setup.