Interview with Eugene Kyselev, Blockchain Software Developer at Mobilunity

From Java to blockchain: How to become a blockchain developer

Dominik Mohilo
Eugene Kyselev


JAXenter: Eugene, tell us more about your experience in blockchain development. How did you start?

Eugene Kyselev: As prosaic as is sounds, everything comes at the right time, and for me, blockchain development was a logical continuation. I started with JavaScript and other frameworks, and I wanted to continue to develop in that direction. A few years earlier, as this trend towards ICO and mining began, I unhesitatingly decided to try blockchain development.

Blockchain development is now moving at the speed of light. Blockchain technology has grabbed the attention of governments and central banks; in short, everything indicates that blockchain has a bright future.

JAXenter: How long do you think the “era of blockchain” will continue?

Eugene Kyselev: That’s hard to say, that’s like asking “How long will the era of globalization last?”

I think that as long as there is increasing demand for cryptocurrencies and other blockchain solutions, it will take a while. Absolutely everything and everyone goes through their own development, and even if the end would come for cryptocurrencies and various ICOs, I’m pretty sure that during the “blockchain era” there are still many other important discoveries and innovative applications of the blockchain technology that can lead to new breakthroughs in the whole industry.

JAXenter: Why should one change their technical specialization to blockchain development?

Eugene Kyselev: There is no such thing as the transfer of technical skills. Blockchain uses common programming languages such as C ++, Java, Python, Go. But new technologies like Solidity will emerge. Solidity is an object-oriented programming language for developing smart contracts for the Ethereum Blockchain platform. Another promising technology is Hyperledger, a blockchain platform comprised of open source technologies. Hyperledger lets you create distributed ledgers or your own blockchain frameworks.

JAXenter: Many developers are asking “What do you have to do to become a blockchain or crypto developer?” What would you recommend them?

Eugene Kyselev: With a strong will, you can achieve and learn everything. As a quick guide, I would recommend the IBM Blockchain 101 course. But for starters, you have to have solid knowledge of algorithms and data structures, most importantly cryptographic algorithms. If you’re a blockchain engineer, deep knowledge of Java / C or Python / Go is also a must.

If you’re focused on developing smart contracts, you need to have experience in JavaScript development, and the next step is to master Solidity.

JAXenter: How do you start writing Java Chaincode?

Eugene Kyselev: That’s totally easy. To get started, you need the following tools:

  1. Gradle
  2. JDK
  3. Vagrant

First, start chaincode deployment:

peer chaincode deploy - l java - n map - p / opt / gopath / src / github . com / hyperledger / fabric / core / chaincode / shim / java - c '{"Function": "init", "Args": ["a", "100", "b", "200"]}

Then, retrieve transfer transaction:

   / opt / gopath / src / github . com / hyperledger / fabric / core / chaincode / shim / java $ peer chaincode invoke - l java \
- n 6d9a704d95284593fe802a5de89f84e86fb975f00830bc6488713f9441b835cf32d9cd07b087b90e5cb57a88360f90a4de39521a5595545ad689cd64791679e9 \
- c '{"Function": "transfer", "Args": [ "a", "b", "20"]}'

After retrieving, initialize variables “a” and “b”:

/ opt / gopath / src / github . com / hyperledger / fabric / core / chaincode / shim / java $ peer chaincode query - l java \
- n 6d9a704d95284593fe802a5de89f84e86fb975f00830bc6488713f9441b835cf32d9cd07b087b90e5cb57a88360f90a4de39521a5595545ad689cd64791679e9 \
- c '{"Function": "query", "Args": ["a"]}'
{ "Name" : "a" , "Amount" : "80" }
- n 6d9a704d95284593fe802a5de89f84e86fb975f00830bc6488713f9441b835cf32d9cd07b087b90e5cb57a88360f90a4de39521a5595545ad689cd64791679e9 \
- c '{"Function": "query", "Args": ["b"]}'
{ "Name" : "b" , "Amount" : "220" }

JAXenter: Tell us a bit more about Hyperledger, R3 DLT, and Solidity.

Eugene Kyselev: Let’s start with Hyperledger. As mentioned above, it is an open source platform (hub) for blockchain applications. Overall, Hyperledger does not support Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Hyperledger is a set of projects designed to facilitate the development of blockchain applications.

Since the emergence of the Internet, there has not been a technology as promising and groundbreaking as this technology. The internet and the blockchain can be used together to create a new generation of transactional applications that create trust, accountability, and transparency at the core of business processes.

R3 DLT is not a technology but a blockchain consortium that includes more than 100 banks, financial institutions, regulators, professional bodies, service companies and technology companies.

The goal is to use the platform to explore the possibilities of the blockchain technology, which is regarded as innovative, and at the same time to summarize the ideas and data of the established players, and make international payments faster and more reliable.

Solidity is a strongly JavaScript-oriented language designed to develop smart contracts running in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Since Solidity has a JavaScript-like syntax, it made it easy for me to quickly master that language. The main drawback is that a full version of the language is not yet realized. Because of this, it still has a fairly limited set of functionalities and is plagued by many bugs.

JAXenter: There is a lot of hype around blockchain right now. What problems can be solved with this technology?

Eugene Kyselev: 

Ensuring the safety of bank deposits

Every year, banks lose huge amounts of money due to fraud. Blockchain, with its almost impeccable safety, could help them solve this problem. Bank customers switching to a blockchain wallet are identified by a unique identification number instead of a name. In addition, they use a private key to access the money. With their help, only their owners can dispose of the funds — even the bank has no access to them. Such security measures have ensured the security of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so that they can easily protect deposits.

Cloud storage on blockchain will be better able to withstand hacker attacks

Cloud storage companies use centralized servers to store data. For this reason, the risk that hackers can steal information from them increases — by accessing a server, hackers automatically penetrate the entire network. Cloud storage on a block of flats protects your data decentrally and their nodes are disconnected. Therefore, they are less vulnerable to attacks, and even hacking a node does not hack the entire network.

SEE ALSO: Industries are not disrupted by blockchain — This is called organic evolution

Faster goods transportation 

In logistics, there is a need to organize the transport of goods correctly and quickly. The key to this is the ability to track the goods throughout the supply chain. Thanks to the blockchain technology, this process will become much more secure and transparent. Moreover, continuous recording in decentralized registers will reduce the role of humans and the likelihood of delays.

Election fraud

Electoral fraud, signature forgery, and the holding of meetings without notification to all members among the most widespread problems in corporate governance. All of these problems are partially solved by the integration of the blockchain technology. For instance, it can track and count votes, thereby eliminating any chance that someone’s voice will not be counted or falsified. Instead, each voting participant will receive a unique key to make a decision.

Thank you!

Dominik Mohilo

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If you can earn good in Java why switching to Java?