Preface

Welcome to Mastering EVM.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine has become the de facto standard for programmable blockchains. Whether you're building on Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, or any of the dozens of EVM-compatible chains, understanding the EVM is essential.

Why We Wrote This Book

When we started our blockchain journey, we struggled to find comprehensive, modern resources. The technology moves fast—what was cutting-edge in 2020 is often outdated by 2025. We wrote the book we wished existed.

This isn't just another "intro to Ethereum" guide. We go deep. You'll understand not just how to write smart contracts, but why they work the way they do. You'll learn the EVM's internals, security considerations, and how to build production-ready decentralized applications.

The Dual-Chain Perspective

A unique aspect of this book is our dual-chain approach. We cover both:

• Ethereum (ETH) — The original, now proof-of-stake after The Merge
• Ethereum Classic (ETC) — The continuation of proof-of-work Ethereum

These two chains share the same origin but have diverged philosophically and technically. Understanding both gives you a complete picture of the EVM ecosystem. Where implementations differ, we clearly note the distinctions.

Who This Book Is For

We wrote Mastering EVM for developers who want more than surface-level knowledge:

• Blockchain newcomers — Start from Chapter 1 and work through sequentially
• Experienced developers — Jump to specific topics like security or the EVM deep dive
• Architects — Focus on consensus, scaling, and system design chapters
• Security researchers — The security chapter and EVM internals are essential reading

We assume you have programming experience. Knowledge of JavaScript helps for the code examples, though Solidity syntax is self-explanatory enough to follow along.

How to Read This Book

The chapters build on each other, but you don't need to read sequentially:

Part I: Foundations (Chapters 1-6) Start here if you're new. We cover what the EVM is, how to set up your environment, cryptographic fundamentals, wallets, and transactions.

Part II: Development (Chapters 7-12) The meat of smart contract development. Solidity, Vyper, security patterns, tokens, oracles, and building complete dApps.

Part III: Deep Dives (Chapters 13-17) For those who want mastery. The EVM's internals, consensus mechanisms, DeFi protocols, scaling solutions, and zero-knowledge proofs.

Part IV: Modern Practices (Chapter 18) The frontier of blockchain development. How resource-constrained networks like ETC use agentic coding to multiply developer effectiveness while encoding network principles directly into AI development workflows.

Appendices Reference material: fork history, EIP standards, opcode tables, and development tools.

Conventions Used

Throughout this book, you'll see:

ℹ️ Info

Information boxes highlight important concepts or tips.

⚠️ Warning

Warning boxes flag common pitfalls and security concerns.

📝 Note: ETC vs ETH

Where Ethereum and Ethereum Classic differ, we explicitly note the distinction.

Code examples appear in highlighted blocks:

// Solidity example
contract HelloWorld {
    string public message = "Hello, EVM!";
}

// JavaScript example
const provider = new ethers.JsonRpcProvider("https://rpc.example.com");

Acknowledgments

This book builds upon the foundational work of the Ethereum community. We particularly acknowledge Mastering Ethereum by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood, which pioneered comprehensive EVM education. Our work is a derivative under CC BY-SA 4.0, substantially rewritten for 2025.

We thank the countless developers who've contributed to the EVM ecosystem—the client teams, the standards authors, the tooling maintainers, and the community educators. This book exists because of your work.

Let's Begin

The EVM is a remarkable piece of technology. It enables trustless computation, programmable money, and decentralized applications that were impossible just a decade ago.

Let's master it together.

— Cipher Null January 2025