Polkadot Learning Path

-- Work in progress --

A simplified learning path for getting to understand blockchain and the Polkadot Ecosystem. It's important that this is a suggestion you can follow, but it's not the only way. You can follow this path or you can follow your path. The important thing is to learn and understand the technology. There may be some concepts that you would understand the second time you read them, so don't be afraid to read them again.

If you are not a developer you can skip the parts where the people talk about code.

PR, questions and comments are welcome!

Cryptography

It would be great to know cryptography before going in-depth into Polkadot. Here are some resources to get you started:

Public key cryptography

1. Public Key Cryptography [Video] (Est. time: 7 minutes)
2. What is Public-key Cryptography? [Text] (Est. time: 4 minutes)

Digital signatures

1. Cryptography Digital Signatures [Text] (Est. time: 10 minutes)
2. What are Digital Signatures and How Do They Work? [Video] (Est. time: 3 minutes)

Cryptographic hashing

1. What is Hashing on the Blockchain? [Video] (Est. time: 5 minutes)
2. What is Hashing in Blockchain? [Text] (Est. time: 9 minutes)

Blockchain

1. Blockchain Explained [Text] (Est.time: 26 minutes)
2. Blockchain - A visual demo [Video] (Est. time: 18 minutes)
3. Introduction to Libp2p from 2018 but Good [Video] (Est. time: 20 minutes)
4. Consensus
   • Two General Problem [Video] (Est. time: 10 minutes)
   • The Byzantine Problem [Video] (Est. time: 8 minutes)
5. Proof of Stake [Video] (Est. time: 10 minutes)

Polkadot

Theory

1. What is Polkadot? [Video] (Est. time: 6 minutes)
2. Architecture [Text] (Est. time:5 minutes)
3. Validator [Text] (Est. time: 5 minutes)
4. Parachains [Text] (Est. time: 15 minutes)
5. Consensus in Polkadot
   • Wiki [Text] (Est. time: 20 minutes)
   • Introduction [Text]
   • Grandpa [Text]
   • Babe [Text]
6. Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) [Video] (Est. time: 20 minutes)
7. WASM [Text]
8. • Substrate Text [Text]
   • Substrate Video [Video]
9. Forkless Upgrades in Polkadot [Video]
10. TODO: Substrate with polkadotJS. [Video]
11. Polkadot OpenGov [Video] (Est. time: 45 minutes)
12. Light clients
    • Browser-embedded light clients [Video] Duration 9min
    • Talisman: Powering the Paraverse with Light Clients [Video]
13. XCM [Text] (Est. time: 30 minutes)
14. Blake2 vs Sha2 [Text] (Est. time: 5 minutes)
15. Zombienet [Video] (Est. time: 1 hour)
16. TODO: Polkadot-JS
17. TODO: Substrate
18. TODO: Frame Pallets
19. Ink! 101 [Video]
20. Wallets & ask for tokens
21. EVM vs Wasm Smart Contracts [Text]
22. Blockspace over Blockchain
    • Blockspace over Blockchain [Text]
    • Blockspace over Blockchain [Video]

Practice

Developer

1. TODO: Node Template
2. Ink!
   • Create a Smart Contract in ink!
3. TODO: Frontend Template

Extras

1. Polkadot Blockchain Academy
2. Overview of Polkadot and its Design Considerations [Text]
3. EDX Free Online Course "Introduction to Polkadot" [Video]
4. Polkadot Protocol Specification [Text]
5. Polkadot Wiki [Text]
6. Twitch Channel [Video]
7. Youtube Channel [Video]
8. Polkadot Blockchain Academy [Info]
9. My Experience with Polkadot Blockchain Academy [Text]

Reference

• Pre-requisites & Bitcoin from Protofire github