Learning programming at an older age

[RichTT]

Afternoon all,

When I was a lad we used Visual basic and perhaps some Cobal at school, in University I might have done some C++ at some point. However this is 20 years ago and I've not been in a related industry since leaving further education.

That being said, after I was recently asked to explain to another lay person the gist of a cryptography research paper discussing zkSnark rollups I decided that I actually needed more than just a lay grasp myself.

Given that I am computer literate, but not a genius, I am currently a little lost on the best place to start and what route to take to further understanding the underpinnings of blockchain, smart contracts, EVM and the like.

I'm going to start going through the MS Azure intro course and on to the EVM modules but only after going back through some absolute basics of programming languages that I know I will have forgotten.

Do I need to go back to fundamentals and do a C++ course then on to something like Solidity or Rust?

I'm not looking to be a developer but I like a challenge and seeing as this is my current area of interest I'd like to have a deeper understanding of what I'm talking about.

Any tips / advice / guides / links or just a general nudge in the right direction would be appreciated.

Ta.

Rich.

[stuthemong]

I'd start with python and an online dev env that can run it all.

Super fast to get going, lots of support and lots of modules that are fast to get playing with!

[a_dreamer]

Another vote for python. Relatively easy to pick up. Lots of different use cases to keep you entertained and so much out there to help you progress (mostly free too)

[RichTT]

Ta muchly, python it is then.

[annodomini2]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-osiE80TeTskra...

[TheInternet]

I've maybe misunderstood, but understanding/explaining cryptographic principles is not at all the same as programming. The latter being a doddle compared to the workings of some ciphers.

[deckster]

TheInternet said:

I've maybe misunderstood, but understanding/explaining cryptographic principles is not at all the same as programming. The latter being a doddle compared to the workings of some ciphers.

This. Azure and C++ have precisely nothing to do with encryption or blockchain.

If you want to understand ciphers, then you'll need a whole heap of maths.

If you want to understand security architecture, digital certificates and the like, then you'll need a grounding in public key infrastructure.

If you want to understand blockchain, then you need to be Russian and in possession of a huge GPU farm

But seriously, to get the basics of most of this stuff isn't too hard and there are loads of Youtube videos freely available which will give you a good grounding (although quality does vary tremendously). Or if you're really keen then a Udemy or LinkedIn Learning subscription will give you access to some generally pretty good online courses.

But the main point is to study what you want to study. You don't need any programming knowledge for any of the stuff you've mentioned.

[a_dreamer]

Data camp is decent too if you are willing to invest for a few months to upskill on the basics

[RichTT]

TheInternet said:

I've maybe misunderstood, but understanding/explaining cryptographic principles is not at all the same as programming. The latter being a doddle compared to the workings of some ciphers.

No, probably just my stream of consciousness posting style.

I love to understand how things work at a basic level. I understand the overarching technology and how they work. But I also don't know how they write the code and how it's structured and how you approach building a smart contract protocol or a dApp or an nft project.

I'm definitely not the next vitalik but have some core knowledge I think is helpful. And it's a new skill to learn. I enjoy learning.