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Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: vikram on December 29, 2013, 06:36:05 pm

Title: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: vikram on December 29, 2013, 06:36:05 pm
Does anyone know more or has any thoughts about this project:

http://vbuterin.com/ethereum.html
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: toast on December 29, 2013, 06:50:57 pm
IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on December 29, 2013, 08:14:31 pm

IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.

Agreed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: arcke on December 30, 2013, 02:27:59 am
IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.
What was the reason? Reasons I can imagine are simplicity and efficient encoding or speed. Are there security considerations?

I imagine a protocol in a high-level language could be compiled to ethereums script language. This would still allow for languages which are more suitable for correctness proofs.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on December 30, 2013, 02:30:15 am
IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.
What was the reason? Reasons I can imagine are simplicity and efficient encoding or speed. Are there security considerations?

I imagine a protocol in a high-level language could be compiled to ethereums script language. This would still allow for languages which are more suitable for correctness proofs.

For starters, the rules of a block chain are very hard to change after launch and even bitcoin has not turned on the full power of their scripts.  If bitcoin is not comfortable with their scripts after 5 years of evaluation, this platform will have a much harder time proving its security model in a timely manner.

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: phoenix on December 30, 2013, 02:36:25 am
IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.
What was the reason? Reasons I can imagine are simplicity and efficient encoding or speed. Are there security considerations?

I imagine a protocol in a high-level language could be compiled to ethereums script language. This would still allow for languages which are more suitable for correctness proofs.

For starters, the rules of a block chain are very hard to change after launch and even bitcoin has not turned on the full power of their scripts.  If bitcoin is not comfortable with their scripts after 5 years of evaluation, this platform will have a much harder time proving its security model in a timely manner.

What kind of powers does bitcoin still have in their scripts that they haven't fully turned on yet?
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on December 30, 2013, 03:26:00 am
IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.
What was the reason? Reasons I can imagine are simplicity and efficient encoding or speed. Are there security considerations?

I imagine a protocol in a high-level language could be compiled to ethereums script language. This would still allow for languages which are more suitable for correctness proofs.

For starters, the rules of a block chain are very hard to change after launch and even bitcoin has not turned on the full power of their scripts.  If bitcoin is not comfortable with their scripts after 5 years of evaluation, this platform will have a much harder time proving its security model in a timely manner.

What kind of powers does bitcoin still have in their scripts that they haven't fully turned on yet?

As far as I know you cannot do cross-chain-trading without support of one of the top mining pools because only "standard" transactions can be broadcast and included right now.  If you want to use the 'full power' you must mine your own blocks which is  impractical.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: luckybit on December 30, 2013, 04:03:59 am
Does anyone know more or has any thoughts about this project:

http://vbuterin.com/ethereum.html

I've been looking at it over the past few days.
It's extremely flexible, powerful, modular and potentially secure. These are the features he has over Bitshares and Mastercoin.

The main key to whether or not it will be a success will be based on how easy or difficult the scripting layer is. My opinion on it is that they should go the Python route which is to have a virtual machine with a very easy to use scripting language on top. If we have to write assembler code that might be okay but it could mean fewer people can take advantage of the extreme flexibility and turing completeness.

Python is turing complete and simple. If we could have something simple like that or something simple like the Linux bash scripting then it will work extremely well and probably become a success. If the virtual machine is designed to make it extremely cross platform so it can run on anything then it could be like python in that aspect that it can be ported to everything.

C++ in my opinion has its limits. It's hard to port C++, hard to debug it, and it's a compiled language which means you have to worry about all the security issues yourself. Python code is easier to secure because there is a lot less syntax, it's easier to debug, it's more portable, but it's interpreted so it's also not as efficient or fast as compiled languages which are optimized specifically for the hardware.

I await the release of Ethereum but those are my thoughts on it based on my current understanding of what it wants to do.

IMO this sort of project should NOT be using a turing-complete language as the foundation. Bitcoin's scripting language was designed to be not turing-complete for a reason. We want our protocol language to be good for correctness proofs, not malware.

Python is turing complete but also one of the easiest languages to write secure code in because the syntax is simple and beautiful. I think if the syntax for the turing complete scripting language is simple, and if it's easy to see what it does, then it's very hard to write malware. Interpreted scripting languages in my opinion are a necessity for contracts and should not be limited because of a fear of difficult auditing. Instead we should make the scripting language so simple and so well designed that you don't have these issues. There also has to be a standard code base which people can use which is secure by default.

This is something which in my opinion can be built, has to be built, but will not at all be easy to build. And from what I saw on the site they want to use some sort of assembler type code which is not going to be easy to deal with. On the other hand its using a virtual machine so if you do process separation, isolation, sandboxes and other techniques you can prevent malware.

I confident that if designed with security in mind malware can be prevented. I don't think Bitcoin was designed as well as it could have been and was hacked together in a lot of ways using a compiled language such as C++ which while efficient is often difficult to port, difficult to debug, difficult to secure.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on December 30, 2013, 04:31:45 am
The python port of BitMessage to Mac OS X was very difficulty and buggy.

As someone who does cross-platform development, C++ is by far the best choice.  You discover your bugs at compile time and have the power to easily tweak things for each target.  With other systems you discover your bugs at runtime and often are helpless to fix the platform specific quirks that result.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: ruletheworld on December 30, 2013, 04:34:36 am
As someone who does cross-platform development, C++ is by far the best choice.  You discover your bugs at compile time and have the power to easily tweak things for each target.  With other systems you discover your bugs at runtime and often are helpless to fix the platform specific quirks that result.
+1
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: luckybit on December 30, 2013, 06:02:59 am
The python port of BitMessage to Mac OS X was very difficulty and buggy.

As someone who does cross-platform development, C++ is by far the best choice.  You discover your bugs at compile time and have the power to easily tweak things for each target.  With other systems you discover your bugs at runtime and often are helpless to fix the platform specific quirks that result.

Of course this is your opinion and you're right that Bitmessage is buggy. This is why I said there has to be a secure standard library base made by programmers who know how to write secure code. From what I see of Vatalik Buterins design spec he knows how to design secure code. It's modular, it's flexible, it utilizes virtual machines, it could probably do process separation and sandbox techniques to limit the risks of a bug doing any real damage.

I favor something like python for these reasons:
I think when you use simple to read code you have more eyes who can debug it.
I think when there is a lot less syntax you have less lines of code to debug.
I think when code is beautiful it is a lot easier to maintain.

So despite the problems with Bitmessage those are not problems inherent in the design of Python but problems inherent in Bitmessage and the style they chose to design and code it. I will accept we disagree on this and it's really a subjective matter anyway. If you're most comfortable with C++ then of course for you it's the best, but I think there are a lot more people who can debug/audit a Python script with maybe 50 lines of code than a C++ full fledged compiled application with hundreds of lines of code.

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: charleshoskinson on December 30, 2013, 06:12:32 am
There is nothing wrong with choosing a Turing complete scripting language. As for the languages, there are three reference clients: c++, python and javascript. And there are two cryptographer on the project: charles hoskinson and dr. Adam back.

The team behind ethereum is now over 20 people in five countries. More details coming soon.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: jbutta2k13 on December 31, 2013, 02:18:06 pm
I hope that the name changes...Anyone who is an experienced  investors like Warren Buffet, Ben Graham, etc branding is one of the single most important ideas in marketing new product/services/ecosystems. Just look at Coca-cola, Pepsi, Doritos, FEDEX, Windows, Linux, iPOD/PAD/TOUCH, the "Cloud".  If you want the this currency to be an critical part of everyday life, make it a sound like it can be used every day.    If you want to be taken serious, change the name to something simple and captivating.  I really hope the space listen to this.  I have made other posts before and hope that someone listens and makes crypto much more user-friendly for the masses and well as invoking simple branding concepts to attain wider system acceptance.

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: luckybit on December 31, 2013, 11:57:26 pm
I hope that the name changes...Anyone who is an experienced  investors like Warren Buffet, Ben Graham, etc branding is one of the single most important ideas in marketing new product/services/ecosystems. Just look at Coca-cola, Pepsi, Doritos, FEDEX, Windows, Linux, iPOD/PAD/TOUCH, the "Cloud".  If you want the this currency to be an critical part of everyday life, make it a sound like it can be used every day.    If you want to be taken serious, change the name to something simple and captivating.  I really hope the space listen to this.  I have made other posts before and hope that someone listens and makes crypto much more user-friendly for the masses and well as invoking simple branding concepts to attain wider system acceptance.

It's a protocol not a product. Voice over IP, TCP/IP, UDP, FTP, SMTP, most people don't have a clue what any of that stands for but they use it every day.

I think one of the problems I see in this space is that people listen to product advertisers rather than trying to focus on making the best protocol. If the protocol is the best then anyone can rebrand it later on. When you use gmail are you aware that you're using IMAP? Do you even know what that is?

The name of the protocol really does not matter if its open source. If you think that Ethereum is a bad name then just rebrand it and compile it with a better name. It's open source which means anyone can rebrand it so why are we going to follow the paradigm of closed source software? How many Linux distributions are there? If you don't like the name Redhat then there is Ubuntu, Suse, Slackware, Gentoo.

Focus on making the best Ethereum possible and design it in a way so that people can make Ethereum distributions just like Linux, Gnutella or Bittorrent. That way it's easily rebranded if it does not catch on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnutella
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel
http://www.askjf.com/?q=2367s
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: charleshoskinson on January 02, 2014, 08:01:31 am
Quote
Focus on making the best Ethereum possible and design it in a way so that people can make Ethereum distributions just like Linux, Gnutella or Bittorrent. That way it's easily rebranded if it does not catch on.

That's exactly what's going to happen and it's incredibly exciting.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: JustHayden on January 02, 2014, 08:20:17 am
Well it turns out the guy who started this project goes to the local University here but I'll have to look further into his project to know more about it. Glad to know there's developers around Crypto Currenies around here!
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: fuzzy on January 12, 2014, 06:10:13 am
Is Ethereum honoring the Protoshares/AngelShares?  or is this just a random crypto discussion?
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: arcke on January 12, 2014, 05:49:54 pm
Is Ethereum honoring the Protoshares/AngelShares?  or is this just a random crypto discussion?

Ethereum: http://ethereum.org/ethereum.html

It's not a PTS/AGS-honoring DAC, rather a different approach to create DACs.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: hasher on January 13, 2014, 07:30:13 am
i have noticed interesting tendency, im not sure for sure, but i suppose there are several groups of people, unofficial social network of developers, who involved somehow (with friends, by themselves) to all crypto projects, even temporary closed ones.
That mean interesting situation, when people have knowledge of strengths and weaknesses each of competitors, i think it could have positive and negative impacts to these projects.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: Giga on January 13, 2014, 08:48:13 pm
Alot of hype behind Ehtereum, i haven't seen another crypto idea pick up and get hyped so quickly in a while. Might be worth checking out, however i think I3 is way ahead already so i don't view it as competition.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: vlight on January 16, 2014, 04:07:04 am
ProtoShares is backed by future DACs. What will Ethereum be backed by?
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on January 16, 2014, 04:38:11 am
ProtoShares is backed by future DACs. What will Ethereum be backed by?

By the same thing future DACs are backed by, the services it provides.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: santaclause102 on January 16, 2014, 11:39:13 am
ProtoShares is backed by future DACs. What will Ethereum be backed by?

By the same thing future DACs are backed by, the services it provides.

What are the services it provides (to developers)?
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bitcool on January 27, 2014, 03:50:52 pm
If Ethereum turns out to be as powerful and successful as it has promised, it should be as open, free as:
       TCP/IP
       C/C++
       Linux
       Java
       Andriod
       ...

NOT like:
       Mac OS
       Windows
       Blackberry
       ...

The former group require academic neutrality and certain level of altruism while the latter group are profit-driven. Ethereum's IPO and funding model is clearly much closer to the 2nd group. Building a good platform and profit-seeking greed don't mix well. This is a cruel reality and a factor making me much less optimistic on this project.

 
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: fuzzy on February 04, 2014, 09:17:14 am
If Ethereum turns out to be as powerful and successful as it has promised, it should be as open, free as:
       TCP/IP
       C/C++
       Linux
       Java
       Andriod
       ...

NOT like:
       Mac OS
       Windows
       Blackberry
       ...

The former group require academic neutrality and certain level of altruism while the latter group are profit-driven. Ethereum's IPO and funding model is clearly much closer to the 2nd group. Building a good platform and profit-seeking greed don't mix well. This is a cruel reality and a factor making me much less optimistic on this project.

This is perhaps the most respectful and succinct way of describing how I feel about Ethereum.  It is the Microsoft of Cryptos...
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: santaclause102 on February 04, 2014, 09:30:08 am
My take on ethereum is that it has tremendous upside when it can solve the scalability issues but I dont think that is possible. The really high volume DACs will go with the I3 toolkit...
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: JakeThePanda on February 04, 2014, 01:02:01 pm
My take on ethereum is that it has tremendous upside when it can solve the scalability issues but I dont think that is possible. The really high volume DACs will go with the I3 toolkit...

I'm a non-technical person.  Can someone help me understand the differences between Invictus and Ethereum?  This is my understanding:

The Invictus platform uses a different chain for everything.  So, trading gold will be on a different block chain then placing bets on the Super Bowl.  All Ethereum DACs will be on one block chain. Is this correct?

As an end user that's non-technical, why does this all matter to me?
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: santaclause102 on February 04, 2014, 01:12:09 pm
My take on ethereum is that it has tremendous upside when it can solve the scalability issues but I dont think that is possible. The really high volume DACs will go with the I3 toolkit...

I'm a non-technical person.  Can someone help me understand the differences between Invictus and Ethereum?  This is my understanding:

The Invictus platform uses a different chain for everything.  So, trading gold will be on a different block chain then placing bets on the Super Bowl.  All Ethereum DACs will be on one block chain. Is this correct?

As an end user that's non-technical, why does this all matter to me?

What matters to you as an end user is if you have to pay high fees on your bets and how long it takes to make a bet. Invictus tools will be better at this.
Not sure but what Ethereum guys say is that it is super easy to implement DACs. This might actually be the case and I am sure there will be some applications this is very useful for. But with every useful application that very many people will use and which can generate a lot of profit there will be a competitor that will look for a more economic way to implement this (to offer a better service to end users) application and might go with the Invictus Tools...
I am more economical than technical, so technical evaluation of this is welcome...

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: JakeThePanda on February 04, 2014, 05:17:25 pm
Thanks for the replies.

Say I wanted to bet on the price of gold.

Bitshares will have a separate block chain named "BitGold" or whatever it's called or gold trading will be included in one of the chains.  It will be clear to me that anyone trading "BitGold" is a potential counterparty for my directional bets on Gold.  Correct?

How would this same trade work on Ethereum?  Do I just post a bid somewhere that I want to bet on gold?  Does someone have to make the currency on top of Ethereum first?

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: toast on February 04, 2014, 05:26:59 pm
Thanks for the replies.

Say I wanted to bet on the price of gold.

Bitshares will have a separate block chain named "BitGold" or whatever it's called or gold trading will be included in one of the chains.  It will be clear to me that anyone trading "BitGold" is a potential counterparty for my directional bets on Gold.  Correct?

How would this same trade work on Ethereum?  Do I just post a bid somewhere that I want to bet on gold?  Does someone have to make the currency on top of Ethereum first?

Someone would use Ethereum to build a decentralized bank and exchange, which could work just like bitshares. Or someone could build alternate models for price pegs like trusted feeds.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: JakeThePanda on February 04, 2014, 05:31:23 pm
Thanks for the replies.

Say I wanted to bet on the price of gold.

Bitshares will have a separate block chain named "BitGold" or whatever it's called or gold trading will be included in one of the chains.  It will be clear to me that anyone trading "BitGold" is a potential counterparty for my directional bets on Gold.  Correct?

How would this same trade work on Ethereum?  Do I just post a bid somewhere that I want to bet on gold?  Does someone have to make the currency on top of Ethereum first?

Someone would use Ethereum to build a decentralized bank and exchange, which could work just like bitshares. Or someone could build alternate models for price pegs like trusted feeds.

So at this stage, Ethereum is just an empty canvas with nothing on it yet?

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: toast on February 04, 2014, 05:50:35 pm
Yes, though the whole point is that the canvas will be easy to paint. I can believe some altcoins, name systems, and other simple stuff will appear within just the first few days. Not sure they have even a single profitable DAC idea though =P
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: BldSwtTrs on February 04, 2014, 06:11:18 pm
What prevents to make a fork of Ethereum and reset all the fees to zero?

If that happens the future DACs will use the free alternative instead of Ethereum.
Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: bytemaster on February 04, 2014, 06:18:50 pm
What prevents to make a fork of Ethereum and reset all the fees to zero?

If that happens the future DACs will use the free alternative instead of Ethereum.

Fees are set to control bandwidth and spam, not to pay Ethereum devs...

Title: Re: Ethereum: The Ultimate Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Post by: fuzzy on February 05, 2014, 10:07:19 am
Yes, though the whole point is that the canvas will be easy to paint. I can believe some altcoins, name systems, and other simple stuff will appear within just the first few days. Not sure they have even a single profitable DAC idea though =P

I haven't seen one and I've been looking.  Ethereum is not a bad concept but as I see it, where Invictus Innovation puts most of their effort in creating actual value, Ethereum's team chooses to syphon it from the BitCoin community using Viral Marketing in hopes that they will get enough people to build on their platform and create the value for them.  If not, oh well...the seed funding did well and the initial, closed group of "founders" will sell before anyone knows what happened.

I am hoping Ethereum is forked by Devs more like those here at BitSharesTalk...MUCH respect due to Invictus.