Ethereum introduction

Ethereum is open source platform for decentralized application or distributed application (Dapp), in detail https://ethereum.org

Ethereum network is peer-to-peer network or decentralized network. Ethereum network is defined in detail in yellow paper  (https://github.com/ethereum/yellowpaper) and white paper ( https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper).

Ethereum network has 3 different elements:

Bootnodes:  help ethereum clients to find their peers. The address of a bootnode is called enode.

Nodes: all nodes in Ethereum network, but it does not participate in the consensus mechanism

Mining Nodes: to valid transaction and create new block

Ethereum Virtual Machine: this is a compiler and run smart contract

Ethereum clients: currently, there are 2 popular Ethereum clients: Geth written in Go and Parity written in Rust

Ether is one kind of cryptocurrency like bitcoin. Ether is used to pay for transaction fees and exchange in cryptocurrency market (https://www.binance.com)

Consensus algorithm: Currently, public Ethereum use Proof of Work (PoW) and having a plan to change to Proof of State (PoS), Private Ethereum use Proof of Authority (PoA)

Solidity is a language programing for smart contract of Ethereum