How I have approached this book

The approach I have adopted in this book is worth explaining. If you read the section about the target audience, you’ll note that I'm not only aiming at the developer community, but at a wider customer audience that uses Oracle. To help me do this, I have set up some parameters to help you understand why things have been done a particular way. Note the following:

1. The book is split into multiple parts: Part I serves as an management overview of the blockchain. Part II goes into greater detail about blockchain core concepts and terminology. Part III addresses how to implement a permissioned blockchain. Finally, Part IV provides practical examples of blockchain implementations across several industries. You can read the parts as you wish in order to get the most value out of the book in the time you have available.
2. I have dedicated Part III of this book to developers implementing blockchain using the Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service. In this part, we go through the setup and running of a blockchain on the Oracle Cloud in great detail, but the smart contract code can also be deployed on other vendors.
3. I have tried to build the examples around plausible ideas to which anyone can relate. To achieve this, I have drawn on the idea of implementing a blockchain in projects on which I have previously worked professionally.
4. I have endeavored to convey the ideas and concepts in a way that places best practice over being a purist.
5. I have tried not to get caught up in any unnecessary complexities that can arise in order to ensure everybody understands the flow of data within a blockchain. All of the examples should work from your home or work computer without needing to speak with your internet provider or network manager about IP addresses.
6. The book uses tools that the entire target audience can use and understand—"nice" software and tools are not necessarily used in this book. The software and tools that are discussed represent those that are most popular and commonly used.