CS-E5001 Research Seminar in Software
and Service Engineering Fall 2016:
Blockchains (5 cr)
SYLLABUS
Version 0.9 (30.10.2016)
Instructor’s contact information
Course information
Prof. Martti Mäntylä
Academic Year: 2016­2017
E-mail: [email protected]
Period: II
Office: K1 222
Office Hours: By appointment
Course Website:
https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/view.
php?id=15358
Co-instructor’s contact information
Seminar assistant’s contact information
Dr. Pekka Nikander
Richard Meyer
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Office: xxxxx
Office: xxxxx
Office Hours: By appointment
Office Hours: TBA
Overview
The topic of the seminar is "Blockchains". The intent of the seminar is study and
learn about the application of blockchain technology in use cases beyond the
original Bitcoin domain. With this, we hope to gain an understanding of how far the
present state of the art can go and where the actual bottlenecks are so that the
seminar can remove the mist of hype around the topic.
This will be a working seminar, mainly consisting of individual work. The intent is to
distribute a pack of reading materials to the participants after the first session, and
run a "pre-exam" after 3 weeks on the basis of the materials, so that all participants
share the same ground. The material covers the essential technological and other
ingredients that make blockchains (and Bitcoin) work, and it also sensitizes the
readers to the key design issues relevant to the domain.
The pre-exam is combined with a session for agreeing on the project topic
assignments for teams of two persons or individual work. Potential case study
topics will be suggested, but the participants are free to propose cases of their
own. After a work period of 2-3 weeks, one session will consist of mid-term
progress reports, where the participants will get peer feedback. A final session
where the final reports are presented will conclude the seminar after another work
period. We may also have a few additional sessions with guest speakers who will
give additional insights into the topic.
For their projects, participants are expected to use the blockchain related tools
kindly contributed by Microsoft for use by the seminar.
Participants are expected to pass the pre-exam, give two presentations on their
project (midterm, final) and prepare a written final report of ~20 pages.
Do you prefer to get the credits of this seminar under the title CS-E5320 Seminar on
Enterprise Information Systems? Fine by me!
Prerequisites
Bachelor’s studies in a relevant field, such as Computer Science, Mechanical
Engineering, or Electrical Engineering are required. Basic studies in modern
Information and Communications Technologies are also recommended. Basic
understanding of core Internet technologies and security/cryptography are helpful,
but not mandatory.
Learning Outcomes
Through lectures and individual work, you will learn about the basic concepts and
key technological ingredients of blockchains, and experience directly how far the
technology can go.
Assessment and Grading
The grading is based on the final report (scale 1-5). In addition, to get a passing
grade, participants must pass the pre-exam (pass/fail) and give the mid-term and
final report presentations.
Schedule (preliminary)
Further guest speakers may be added.
Please note that the last seminar session has exceptional schedule and location (to
give all participants enough time to give their final presentations)!
# Wk Date
Topic
Teacher
1 44
Introduction
Martti Mäntylä
Mon 31.10.2016, 12-14, T4
Practicalities
Microsoft blockchain tools
Richard Meyer
2 45
Mon 7.11.2016, 12-14, T4
Lecture, TBD
Pekka Nikander
3 46
Mon 14.11.2016, 12-14, T4
Pre-exam (1 hour)
Martti Mäntylä
Assignment of project
topics (1 hour)
Martti Mäntylä
4 47
Mon 21.11.2016, 12-14, T4
Guest lecture, TBD
Timo Seppälä
5 48
Mon 28.11.2016, 12-14, T4
Mid-term reports
Martti Mäntylä
6 49
Mon 5.12.1016, 12-14, T4
Tutoring
Richard Meyer
7 50
Fri 16.12.2016, 12-16, TBD
Final reports
Martti Mäntylä
Essay
On the basis of their individual projects, participants are expected to produce a final
report of ~20 pages.
Exams
Pre-exam (pass/fail). Feel free to take your notes, the pre-exam readings, and any
other material you may find useful to the exam! This is not a rote test, but a test of
understanding the key concepts and being able to articulate them lucidly.
Pre-Exam Readings
The materials of the readings package are also available on the MyCourses page of
the seminar.
A. Mandatory for all
[1] M. Castro and B. Liskov, “Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance,” presented at the
Operating Systems Design and Implementation, 1999, pp. 173–186.
http://pmg.csail.mit.edu/papers/osdi99.pdf
[2] S. Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” bitcoin.org, 2008.
[Online]. Available: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. [Accessed: 26-Sep-2016].
[3] K. Christidis and M. Devetsikiotis, “Blockchains and Smart Contracts for the
Internet of Things,” IEEE Access, vol. 4, pp. 2292–2303, Aug. 2016.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel7/6287639/7419931/07467408.pdf
[4] A. Poelstra, “A Treatise on Altcoins,” download.wpsoftware.net. 25-May-2016.
https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/alts.pdf
[5] J. Bonneau, A. Miller, J. Clark, A. Narayanan, J. A. Kroll, and E. W. Felten, “SoK:
Research Perspectives and Challenges for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies,” presented
at the 2015 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), pp. 104–121. Preprint
available as https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/261.pdf.
B. At least two of the following
[6] D. Mazieres, “The stellar consensus protocol: A federated model for internet-level
consensus,“ Draft, Stellar Development Foundation, 15th May, available at:
https://www.stellar.org/papers/stellarconsensus-protocol.pdf (accessed 23rd May,
2015). 2015 Apr.
[7] G. W. Peters, E. Panayi, and A. Chapelle, “Trends in crypto-currencies and
blockchain technologies: A monetary theory and regulation perspective,” Aug. 2015.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1508.04364
[8] J. Z. Garrod, “The Real World of the Decentralized Autonomous Society,” tripleC:
Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable
Information Society, 14(1), 62-77. http://triplec.at.dd29412.kasserver.com/index.php/tripleC/article/viewFile/692/776
[9] R. Beck, J. Stenum Czepluch, N. Lollike, and S. Malone, “Blockchain — The
Gateway to Trust-free Cryptographic Transactions,” Twenty-Fourth European
Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), İstanbul, Turkey, Aug. 2016.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacob_Czepluch/publication/302589859_BL
OCKCHAIN_-_THE_GATEWAY_TO_TRUSTFREE_CRYPTOGRAPHIC_TRANSACTIONS/links/5731cbcf08ae6cca19a3089d.pdf
[10] T. McConaghy, R. Marques, A. Müller, D. De Jonghe, G. McMullen, R. Henderson,
S. Bellemare, and A. Granzotto, “BigchainDB: A Scalable Blockchain Database,” White
Paper, Jun. 2016. https://www.bigchaindb.com/whitepaper/bigchaindbwhitepaper.pdf
[11] X. Boyen, C. Carr, and T. Haines, “Blockchain-Free Cryptocurrencies,”
eprint.iacr.org. [Online]. Available: http://eprint.iacr.org/2016/871.pdf. [Accessed:
27-Sep-2016].
C. Further Reading
The so-called “Princeton Bitcoin Book”, especially its first few chapters, is a good
introduction to the world of blockchains.
https://d28rh4a8wq0iu5.cloudfront.net/bitcointech/readings/princeton_bitcoin_b
ook.pdf
The following survey article explores to current state of art of blockchain research.
Jesse Yli-Huumo, Deokyoon Ko, Sujin Choi, Sooyong Park, Kari Smolander. Where Is
Current Research on Blockchain Technology?—A Systematic Review. PLOS ONE |
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0163477.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163477
Course Workload
Classroom hours + lecture self-reflection
12h + 12h
Pre-exam
36h
Project
63h
Final report
14,5h
Total
137,5h (5 cr)
Ethics
Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity and Handling Thereof