After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• Understand constitutive concepts and principles of blockchain systems
• Understand principles and programming models for zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs), especially for trustworthy data on-chaining and verifiable off-chain computations (VOCs)
• Practically apply ZKPs and blockchains in combination; implement VOCs using the ZoKrates language and tool-suite
• Compare and discuss different approaches to on-/off-chain computations, as currently present and emerging in practice and in the scientific discourse

The course provides a comprehensive overview of blockchain technology, programmable zero knowledge proofs, and their combined use in hybrid on-/off-chain system architectures. Taking a distributed systems perspective, the course covers both fundamental concepts and methods, as well as real-world application examples and current technologies and trends in research and practice.

The course is offered as “integrated classroom learning” comprising lectures, a practical hands-on coding workshop, reading assignments,
self-study, and student seminar presentations.

The course is offered as “integrated classroom learning”, with one large block being held in October 2023 and a smaller second block being held in November 2023.

The first block comprised lectures, a practical “hands-on” coding workshop, and initiates the reading assignments. After a month of self-study (with on-demand remote consultations), the second block features student seminar presentations and group discussions.

ECTS breakdown (3 ECTS = 75 hours):

• 21h presence time (lectures, coding workshop, “inverted classroom” lectures)
• 32h pre-/post self-study time (related to lectures and coding)
• 22h seminar preparation and presentation time incl. on-demand consultations

The lecturer of this course will be Stefan Tai / TU Berlin.

This is a guest professor course of the TU Wien Informatics Doctoral School. It is targeted to Doctoral Students of the Faculty of Informatics, but, subject to availability of free seats, open to all PhD students and interested Master students.

Students are required to pre-/post-prepare the lectures and the coding workshop. Students will be assigned a seminar topic for self-study of current literature and to present findings in a seminar presentation.
There is no separate course examination.

Please register in TISS.