Chris Cates likes Software

Embeddable OpenSSL RSA Encryption in Javascript

November 29th, 2017

RSA Public/Private keys are the de facto security encryption method for securing data. Today I'll be showing you how to encrypt and decrypt your data with JSEncrypt. We'll be creating OpenSSL public and private keys through terminal for JSEncrypt.

How "Proof of Work" works

October 16th, 2017

October 7th, 2017

I thought it'd be useful to explain the smaller bits and best practices when releasing ERC-20 Tokens, since people love ICOs. So let's set the record straight on how to properly release these ICOs in a safe manner.

EmojiCoin Smart Contract

October 6th, 2017

I thought there were several interesting things I implemented in my EmojiCoin smart contract. Such as nested mapping for each respective emoji as well as using constant logic to effiecently return balance information from the blockchain. >>>>>>> 7eae39714c600068db9d4bb35ed4223754bab2ed

Thoughts about Division

October 3rd, 2017

My friend Kurt one time said that all math is just clever addition. In reality he is very right. We can even prove that Division itself can be reduced to a simple subtractive problem (which is addition with negative numbers when you think about it).

Intelligent Graphs in Rust (Part 1)

October 1st, 2017

I wrote a simple yet intelligent graph implementation in Rust that automatically detected and connected nodes based on edges. While the current implementation is seemingly simple. I want to upgrade it eventually to explain what sort of graphs it adheres to. Also the potential of having weighted graph vectors is also a possibility.

Help me improve this Binary Search Tree

September 30th, 2017

Writing a Binary Search Tree is significantly easier in Javascript than it is Rust. I did however, find myself extremely entertained figuring out the solution after tussling with the compiler for a couple hours. Please email me if you know a better implementation in a more idiomatic Rust way to implement a binary search tree.

Sorting a Binary Array with O(n) Complexity

September 29th, 2017

I found the solution rather menial. But nevertheless, I still felt inspired to blog about it, since typically sorting algorithm are O(n^2) or O(n log n) which neither are ideal. The key here is that we are sorting binary values so it's safe to assume the resultant values in a discretized fashion.

Notes about Merge Sort in Rust

September 29th, 2017

While overall I find programming Rust extremely fun and rewarding. I wanted to write several notes about caveats (or paradigm shifts rather) when programming Rust in comparison to an interpreted language or tried language like C/++.

Building a blockchain ledger in Rust

September 26th, 2017

While what I've built so far more reflects the emojichain blog post. I have to say, writing even just this much code and seeing it work effectively has been extremely rewarding in Rust. This blockchain database is a bit more serious then my previous project and has a core intention of being a distributed, scalable ledger with fault tolerance. A lot of work for one person I know, but who knows maybe it'll catch on?

Back to Rust: Initial Thoughts

September 26th, 2017

I was writing a database in C. Then I quickly glanced over the perks of C++, and then Rust and clearly thought Rust was a winner. After all the nature of the language makes system level design extremely hard to fuck up. However, funny enough, even writing to disk "Hello World" took more then 5 minutes. Which C++ took me 30 seconds to figure out.

Cyclotomic Polynomials and Phi Functions

September 21st, 2017

You'd think I'd be drawing circles in code because who doesn't love circles and pi? In reality though, I'm just writing Phi Functions today. It's some cool shit that's one thing for sure. But what exactly is a Phi function?

Rust versus C/++

September 21st, 2017

Normally I have code samples. Tonight I just feel like rambling about code. In particular I want to make a case for Functional versus Imperative Systems level programming and how Functional programming is better for the developer economy because we can't trust developers to write good code.

Sine, Cosine, Tangents and Fast Fourier Transforms

September 19th, 2017

Normally we don't really think much about Sine, Cosine or Tangent functions... Maybe you did a bit in Calculus, but most people don't really touch upon anything else then early transcendentals in Calculus. I believe Fourier Transforms are classified as an "Advanced Transcendental" method in Calculus. But are still relatively simple concept to grasp... I know I keep saying otherwise complex shit is "simple", but, hey maybe I'm right and this is actually simple? 🤔

How to use Ethereum for gambling

September 19th, 2017

I think one of the main benefits and use cases for Ethereum over Bitcoin is how accessible Ethereum makes writing smart contracts and "dApps" with it. Ethereum has it's own compiled language called "Solidity" which lends a lot of it's syntax and structure to Golang. I would almost argue Solidity being a successor to the Golang language. Much like how Kotlin was the Google's brainchild and prototype successor to Golang.

Merkle Trees, unfortunately are not trees

September 14th, 2017

There are so many damn cool trees out there... Willow, Oak, Pine... Unfortunately, Merkle Trees are an algorithm, not a tree. The concept of Merkle Trees is fairly straightforward. Child nodes hash their parent nodes. So basically it's a graph with hashes hashing each other (with some sort of original value).

What the heck are DAGs?

August 20th, 2017

You've probably heard of DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) because of Ethereum. If you're familar with Graph Theory, have used Graph DBs or Binary Trees. Grasping the concept of DAGs shouldn't be a problem. Basically think of it this way, every vertex is references it's previous and next value. Thus each edge will always be unique in the graph.

Linked Lists and Blockchain

August 20th, 2017

Honestly, me and my friend Chris Hahn always ponder this... What is so special about Blockchain? It's literally just an obfuscated way of saying you made a Linked List. Sure Cryptocurrencies throw in some SHA-2, but... really. It literally is just a linked list. I don't get the hype around it. Linked Lists have existed for decades, while Linked Lists are a very effiecent way of storing datasets. It just seems kind of funny to me that only NOW does it catch on.

Non-Atomic Ring Buffers in Node.js

August 20th, 2017

What? Were you honestly expecting a lock-free atomic ring buffer to be built in pure node.js? Yea keep dreaming. Anyway, recently came across the need for a Ring Buffer in JS. Of course, I would LOVE to be able to leverage it in atomic form. We're kind of stuck with what V8 gives us so...

Emoji Blockchain Tech in 50 lines of code

August 13th, 2017

Imagine a world where your blockchains are encrypted with Emojis... Well, I created the base technology for such a thing and you can learn more about it here. The codebase for a functional (peerless) blockchain is only 50 lines of code in Node.js!

Emoji Hashes

August 10th, 2017 (Revised August 13th)

It's definitely crossed every millenial Computer Scientist minds: How do we make a cryptographic function using Emojis? Well I'm here to explain exactly how by using basic cryptographic principles to create a custom emoji hash.

Bits, Bytes and Bitwise Operations

August 9th, 2017

Ever wondered what it's like to write bitwise operators from scratch? Well, I'm going to be writing all the bitwise operators from scratch in Node.js abstractions.