Introduction to Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

One of the most important evolutions that Ethereum has brought is programmability on blockchains. This is made possible with the use of Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM. Although the term EVM is known to many – how EVM really works and how EVM fits into the overall workings of the Ethereum Blockchain is not understood widely. Also, many blockchains, L2s and other related systems claim to be EVM compatible – what does it mean? We cannot understand EVM compatibility without understanding EVMs, To understand EVM, we need to understand virtual machines, distributed systems, blockchains, smart contract execution on Ethereum etc. So, this course touches upon all these topics. To be clear, this is not a programming course but this course requires some prior understanding of software systems. So, let us dive into it. Some topics we will touch upon in this course among others: What is a Virtual Machine?How do VMs work?Benefits and Limitations of VMs Process vs System Virtual Machines What is a Distributed System?Benefits and Limitation of Distributed Systems Clients and Nodes Models of Distributed Systems – Master-Slave and Peer-to-Peer Distributed vs Decentralized Systems Distributed Systems and Client Diversity What is a Blockchain?Understanding Blocks State and State Transition Blockchain Hashing – Hash Tree and Root Consensus in Blockchains Accounts and Smart Contracts Network Fee – Gas Difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum What is Ethereum?Ethereum Accounts – EOA and CAEthereum Transactions Nonce Contract Creation and Message Calls Account State and World State Smart Contracts on Ethereum and Solidity Smart Contract Compilation – Opcodes Role of EVM in Ethereum What is EVM?Stack and Stack Machine EVM Architecture EVM Code and Smart Contract Execution Gas Accounting