Containerization with Docker by Example Released

January 23, 2018 Nic Raboy

I am pleased to announce that Containerization with Docker by Example, a course I've been working on for a while, has been published to the popular Udemy education network.

This course, is the fifth course that I've released and the first that hasn't been on the topic of mobile application development.

Encrypt And Decrypt Data In Node.js With The Crypto Library

January 22, 2018 Nic Raboy

As you've probably noticed from the previous few articles, I've been doing a lot of development around cryptocurrency wallets using Node.js. Up until now, I've only been writing about interacting with different currencies. However, I haven't discussed how to safely store your wallet information.

When it comes to storing anything sensitive, whether it be cryptocurrency secrets or something else, you must do so safely and securely. For example, the data must be encrypted at rest and decrypted when used.

We're going to see how to encrypt data with a passphrase using Node.js and decrypt it using that same passphrase when necessary.

Use A Raspberry Pi And A CPU Miner To Mine Altcoins

January 19, 2018 Nic Raboy

I'm a big fan, and hoarder, of Raspberry Pi devices. If you've seen my previous Raspberry Pi tutorials, you'll know I like using them for hardware and software projects. These microcomputers use very little energy and have decent processors and memory, making them great for a diverse set of projects.

With blockchain and cryptocurrencies on the rise, Raspberry Pi devices become great for getting familiar with concepts such as wallets, mining, and synchronized nodes.

We're going to see how to mine Altcoins with a Raspberry Pi and a popular CPU miner.

Create A Cross-Platform Desktop DigiByte DGB Wallet With Angular And Electron

January 17, 2018 Nic Raboy

A few weeks back I had written an article titled, Send And Manage DigiByte DGB Coins With Node.js, which had explained how to interact with DigiByte coins via Node.js and the CLI. We saw how to keep track of a wallet, compare against the market value, and send DGB to other wallets. The catch here was that it was all CLI based and not particularly user friendly.

A popular solution towards adding a GUI to a Node.js application comes in the flavor of Electron. With Electron you're essentially packaging a web application that can interact with native platform APIs.

Since I'm a fan of Angular, we're going to see how to create a fancy DigiByte wallet using Electron, Node.js, and Angular.

Mine Bitcoin And Other Cryptocurrency Coins With A CPU Miner And Docker

January 15, 2018 Nic Raboy

So you've been doing a lot of research around the blockchain and the various cryptocurrencies. Don't worry, I've been doing a lot of the same research. There is so much in the news and on social media around this subject, it would be a good idea to educate yourself.

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, there are a lot of people trying to mine it rather than buy it. Depending on the type of currency, it could be near impossible to mine or very easy. Take Bitcoin for example. Bitcoin is one of the most difficult coins to mine, while others such as DigiByte are much easier. That's not to say the easier coins won't become more difficult in the future.

So how do you get started with mining?

I use a Mac. If you're a Mac owner and you try to find a mining tool online, you're going to struggle because most are for Windows or Linux. We're going to see how to leverage Docker to mine via a Linux container on any platform.

Generate Cold Storage Paper Wallets For Ripple XRP Coins With Angular

January 12, 2018 Nic Raboy

About a week ago I wrote about Ripple in a tutorial titled, Build a Ripple XRP Wallet for Android and iOS with Ionic Framework, which focused on mobile development as a followup to a cross-platform desktop application that I had written about before that.

There are many who would advise against storing sensitive wallet information on a computer or anything connected to the internet. As an alternative, people recommend printing your transaction signing information such as private keys and storing them on what's called a paper wallet, destined for a locked safe in your home or the bank.

We're going to see how to create a paper wallet for Ripple XRP coins using Angular and some packages provided by the Ripple development team.

Send And Manage DigiByte DGB Coins With Node.js

January 8, 2018 Nic Raboy

I've been spending a lot of time researching and watching the blockchain market because it is a very interesting subject matter. Not too long ago I had written an article titled, Create a Cross-Platform Desktop Ripple XRP Wallet with Vue.js and Electron, which focused on the Ripple, the banking network and cryptocurrency.

Ripple isn't the only cryptocurrency that I'm following. I'm also following DigiByte, which targets digital payments and has the DGB coin. If you're not familiar with DigiByte, the official wallet forces you to download around 12GB of data to synchronize with the network. It isn't really appealing to anyone who just wants to sit on some DGB. The good news, is this can be avoided by building your own wallet and client.

We're going to see how to build a DigiByte DGB client for storing, sending, and managing coins without having to synchronize with the network, using JavaScript and Node.js.