auston

You often want to get an idea of how much it will cost to send your transaction (estimateGas())

If you want to interact with smart contracts like crypto kitties, lossless lotto, compound lending protocol you need to load it up into your web3 lib (Contract())

If you want to send a write transaction or interact with any way that changes the state of the chain, you want to send a transaction (sendTransaction() although sendRawTransaction() is one I like better)

If you want to think in ETH but operate in the smaller units of ETH called Wei - transaction cost is calculated in GigaWei IIRC - you would use (toWei())

Ruby - https://github.com/izetex/web3-eth and https://github.com/DigixGlobal/ethereum-ruby

Python - https://github.com/ethereum/web3.py

TypeScript/JS - https://github.com/ethers-io/ethers.js/

Java - https://github.com/web3j/web3j

Go - https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum

PHP - https://github.com/sc0Vu/web3.php

& more.

Also - lots of tools to get started:

QuikNode.io - boot nodes or JSON RPC access

Infura - JSON RPC access

Ganache - Fork live network for local dev

OpenZeppelin - library for building smart contracts

Remix - IDE for ethereum.

The article above left a bit to be desired TBH

Maybe show what I could have actually bought with my money instead of blowing it on a game? (+ affiliate links)

Maybe surprise people with a percent that is donated to charity?

Maybe only accept bitcoin? Or accept bitcoin in addition?

Maybe let me start a sub-contest so I can share with friends to see who can flex the most?

Also, see valiu.co

1. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/orasure-technologies-receives...

2. https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2020/04/23/...

At a high level you could encrypt the data (URL) you want to send the webhook to, then (let’s say you’re using Ethereum) you could subscribe to an event & make sure you have the decryption key there to decrypt the URL & actually forward on the webhook.

In terms of the user auth question, you can use signed requests or just signatures in general - I love the localcryptos.com implementation of user login, for instance.

Happy to answer more questions like this, just email me: auston@quiknode

It’s not that awesome TBH. You’d read because every now and then I publish something informative, useful or thought provoking. But it’s mostly just info about my Personal life.

1. No or low admissions bar. Some students very simply SHOULD NOT be admitted to what is intended to be a 3 month course. They either don’t have the learning ability that is required to absorb all of the content in 3 months or the drive.

2. Curriculum pacing - pretty much every human learns different concepts at different pace. A lot of code schools are just trying to assembly-line their course & put people in one end and shove them out the other end in 3 months. If these boot camps offered remediation at a unit level, students on the whole would go much further much faster.

3. Curriculum focus - some people want to be data scientists, others want to write backend code, others want to be iOS developers, others front end. A lot of bootcamps really have curriculum hitting very broad strokes in that 3 month period: big-o, SOLID, html, css, npm/yarn/etc, command line interface, JavaScript, react, elixir, etc. etc. is too much to cram into 3 months IMO. This is a consequence of students hearing this buzzword soup from friends and internet & bootcamps not owning responsibility to serve students.

4. Outcome reporting is hazy at best - CIRR is IMO the best framework for reporting student numbers & should be used as the gold standard. However it should be enforced strictly, if a member doesn’t report CIRR numbers within 3 or 6 months of a cohort finishing they should be penalized in some way by being removed or fined or something. Students need good & recent data to make good decisions & it’s just not their these days.

There are more problems but those are the biggest IMO. There is still a huge opportunity in helping people learn to code but I think it looks more like learncodethehardway.com than Lambdaschool.com

Most of us are probably working on a side project or some extremely targeted piece of software for construction workers or crypto or AI for self driving cars where the scale is x thousands at best.

Also, while this design approach is probably more aesthetically pleasing to people like us, it might not be for someone like my grandpa who may get confused.

But I have a question: is there any particular part of your life you notice especially low self-esteem?

On the other...

I feel like tooling that automatically makes decisions for you can be a crutch if you don’t take the time to understand it.

It might be me getting older/grouchier but watching a dev use black or prettier because they don’t know how/are too lazy to indent their code properly is frustrating for me.

Or when I see new devs pick up User.find(id) in rails and sticking to the ORM without learning a lick of SQL - I think to myself how they’re selling themselves short.

But then I think, what don’t I know that I’m selling my self short on? Do I really know precisely how database storage works? or FS operations? Do I know the HTTP spec to the letter?

And I settle on the following: Any level of abstraction is fine - just try to identify what level you’re on so you can go down if needed or up when a new level of convenience becomes available!

eBuilder | raised $8.4m -> sold $500m

Chewy.com | raised $450m -> IPO $8.7b

BelugaCDN | undisclosed acquired by SSL provider Comodo

Willing.com | raised $7.1m -> acquired by Life Insurance provider MetLife

Octopi | undisclosed acquired by CargoTec (logistics company)

LiveNinja | raised $3m -> acquired by Net2Phone

If we go by funding round/private valuation:

Magic Leap (I saw the founder pre ML @ local meetups)

REEF technologies (saw them as a competitor for years on a side project before SoftBank dumped $100m in)

Papa (met the founder a few times pre YC)

OnSwipe (saw it before Yuri Milner invested after the company moved to NY)

There’s not a lot of them BUT they are super easy to get to & write checks into if you’re here. Email is in my profile if you want access to a few that are still easy access / low valuation.

1. Easier access to deal flow

2. Lower valuations

3. Less competition

If any VCs are interested, HMU I can show you strong deals your peers saw way before you because they looked @ Miami + deals your peers haven’t seen because I live here & I am plugged in.

- If you can afford to apprentice / intern under someone success or on a trajectory to success, do it. - If you can't, then work your paying job, whatever that is, but feel around for opportunities that no one else is looking to own yourself.

Not bad advice, but IMO, not exactly "finding the time to invest in yourself". I actually think finding the time to invest in yourself is getting better at time management:

1. Instead of reading tweets, opening instagram, swiping on tinder, etc - go start an essay, article, etc.

2. That time you'd normally zone out and listen to music on the bus/train - read or watch something that you learn from in a big way.

3. Instead of staying in and watching netflix, hulu, etc get out to a meetup of people that are interested in the same thing you are.

But these - I think - are all obvious things to people that are reading this. ️

Perhaps some free remote tutoring?

Some interview coaching?

Resume review?

A whole lot of bagging on coding boot camps, the founders of Mined Minds & people looking for an easier life. I’m game to help myself!

If anyone knows those folks & they want some help - I’m happy to connect & spend time doing any of the above!

Companies are getting funded & acquired. Engineers are building cool things and meeting regularly. Plus there are plenty of LatAm HQs here.

You should come back & visit, I’d be glad to show you around and introduce you to the people building real companies.

I’m also happy to connect you, just drop me a line.

I can tell you that Miami would definitely like you here, even our Mayor cosigns: https://twitter.com/FrancisSuarez/status/1100425644968738822