DEV Community: secondl1ght

Hello World, this is Cipherchat! 🐈‍⬛

secondl1ght — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 23:28:16 +0000

Intro

Today I am excited to open source and launch a new bitcoin lightning network application to the world called Cipherchat! It is an encrypted messaging app that leverages the power of lightning nodes to communicate privately. I have been building this new project in my spare time over the past few months as a way to become a better developer and to learn more about how nodes operate under the hood.

This blog post will give a bit of background on the origin of the project, highlight some key features, and explain how it works at a high level. If you would like to skip all of that and check out the app right away, you can just head over to cipherchat.app to get started!

Background

Cipherchat builds on a number of technologies including the node module lnc-web. This package makes it possible for web developers to build applications that interact with a user's lightning node securely and remotely. For those interested you can look into Lightning Node Connect to learn more details.

When I discovered this I knew I had to build something awesome using it. The question was, what to build? So I reached out to Leo the Technical Content Lead at Lightning Labs to ask him what kinds of new lightning apps he would like to see built. He gave me a few suggestions and the one that stood out to me was; create an easily accessible and private lightning messenger that can run on any device, from anywhere in the world.

So Cipherchat is exactly that. It is a web app which means the only requirement to use it is a browser. It can be installed on any device and will function with native features. A user simply needs to connect their node via a pairing phrase and they can start chatting privately in seconds.

Keysend App Recap

The idea of using keysend messages to create chat experiences over lightning is not a new one. There are other existing and previous implementations of this feature. Some examples are Sphinx, ThunderHub, and Whatsat. The first two have a product scope that is much larger than only sending and receiving messages, and the last one is a proof-of-concept that was created in the early days of lightning.

While Sphinx covers decentralized social media and ThunderHub is an entire lightning node manager, I wanted to keep the focus for this new lightning messenger app very narrow. The goal was to create a great user experience for private chatting between nodes on the network. Similar to something like Signal, keeping in mind some of the constraints of the protocol itself.

When showing off a keysend demo during the first Shock the Web hackathon presented by Bolt.Fun, Bumi from Alby said that:

"You can even imagine if you allow loading the messages from the users wallet maybe in the future, that would be something like a web-based, lightning-based, decentralized chat."

And from the README file of Whatsat:

"Whatsat is a client application for lnd that demonstrates how the Lightning Network can be used as an end-to-end encrypted, onion-routed, censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer chat messages protocol."

So in that light - I hope that the bitcoin community finds this new offering in the lightning app ecosystem a fun and useful tool that lives up to to some of the expectations set when keysend messages were first being discussed.

Interoperability

One of the coolest parts of open protocols is interoperability. When selecting the custom record and verification scheme for message transfer, I used established keys in the TLV Registry. This means that if other lightning apps use the same specification, conversations can be had between nodes regardless of which chat client they are using.

Keysend messages are supported by many apps. However, the nuance is if and how those apps try to verify the information such as the sender, intended recipient, timestamp etc. A published table showing which records and how they are used in Cipherchat can be found here.

Privacy & Self-hosting

A note on privacy: Just like the lightning network itself, Cipherchat can be used privately. But it's important to understand that anytime you use the internet your IP address is exposed. So you should always take steps to protect that information and only reveal what you choose, to who you choose, when you choose to do it.

Users also have the option to self-host the entire tech stack. This is possible because everything is free and open source all the way down. For more information and to find answers to many questions there is a FAQ available and be sure to check out the Privacy page.

Thanks

I'd like to thank everyone in the #dev-help channel on the LND Developer Community Slack for answering questions I had while working on this project. Especially alexbosworth who is always in there helping people build. Also thanks to the contributors & maintainers of the lnc-web package, and to Leo for helping with beta testing.

Wrap-up

Stay tuned for easy one-click installs to self-host the app on all the popular plug-and-play node app stores like Umbrel, myNode and Start9. Social accounts will be made for following updates and getting support if needed.

Now let's go and make keysend messages popular again! ⚡

Feature highlight AMBOSS SPACE

secondl1ght — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 06:13:41 +0000

Recently I have taken a bit of a deep dive into the features offered by Amboss Space. First off, I want to have full disclosure that I will be joining the team at Amboss next month as a Frontend Engineer, which I am super excited about!

I started using their product and services more lately in order to research the company. What I discovered is that they offer WAY more than I originally had seen. So I thought I would put together a list showcasing some of the main features so that others can also discover their awesome feature-set.

The TLDR is: if you are a lightning node operator, using Amboss is guaranteed to give you an edge.

They have a wide variety of tools to help understand the complexity of the lightning network and make running a successful node easier. So without further ado, here is my feature highlight of some very cool Amboss features.

Lightning Network Explorer

Just like the bitcoin network, the lightning network feels like magic. But to really get a sense of how cool it is, seeing it visually is important. The lightning network explorer on Amboss beautifully accomplishes this challenge. You have to visit the website yourself and explore to really appreciate it. Here is a popular node page to get you started: Kraken 🐙⚡. The explorer provides deep insights into the network so that you can make informed decisions about interacting with it. You can find nodes by
entering either a pubkey or alias into the search and you can view top nodes and aggregated network stats on the main page. When viewing a node you can hop between the network by navigating to its channel connections.

Channel Liquidity Marketplace

One of the more difficult parts of running a lightning node is creating and maintaining inbound liquidity so that you can receive sats. Amboss solves this problem by offering a P2P lightning marketplace called Magma, where users are matched to buy and sell channels. Buyers of channels can easily connect & setup sizeable amounts of inbound liquidity within minutes. Sellers can put their sats to work and earn a truly low-risk yield on their investment. They do this by selling liquidity in the form of opening channels to other nodes at a agreed upon rate. Sellers also get the added benefit of additional routing fees for payments being sent through their newly added channel. As of writing this article the average APR is 3.07%. The process on either side of the trade is very simple, which is a huge win for node operators.

Enterprise Data Analytics

The stats section of Amboss provides even deeper historical analysis into individual node information and the network as a whole using multiple data sources. When operating a node at a professional level for profit, this data can be vital to the success of your business in a highly competitive landscape. With the stats dashboard you can create custom charts by entering node pubkeys. This advanced functionality gives you the ability to compare incoming fee rates to identity lightning native arbitrage opportunities and other actionable data points.

Monitoring and Recovery Services

Monitoring

There are many important events that can happen to your node and you will want to be notified. Things like your node going offline, channels being opened or closed, Magma marketplace events, and more. Amboss has 3 methods for instantly receiving these notifications so that you can take action if necessary. You can setup notifications to be sent via Telegram, Email, or Webhook. I personally have setup the Telegram notifications and find it very useful to receive these updates either at my laptop or on mobile.

Recovery

You need 2 pieces of information to fully recover a lightning node; your wallet seed phrase and a static channel backup. Amboss is non-custodial, so protecting your seed phrase is up to you. But the second part, which can be more difficult because it needs to be consistently updated, is where Amboss can make a big difference. They offer automated channel backups via Thunderhub whenever your node state changes. The backup file is fully encrypted by your nodes private key so only you have access to it. This is an extremely useful service that helps take the burden of this cumbersome task off the user.

API and Embed-able Widgets

API

If you thought Amboss was going to keep all of this data to themselves you thought wrong. They have made available a robust API that is free to use for non-commercial use. For commercial use you can reach out to the team for more details on how to use the API at info@amboss.tech. Documentation can be found here. Anybody can have access to rich lightning network data and start building new apps or integrate into their existing applications.

Widgets

If you want to embed lightning network statistics into your own website without fully integrating the API, they have a one-liner code option available in the form of an iframe widget. There are some style and unit options you can pass and you can either view a specific node details or total network stats. Documentation can be found here. An example is shown below:

<iframe src="https://amboss.space/embed/networkStats?theme=light&unit=EUR&noBackground=true" width="100%" height="40px" style="overflow: hidden" scrolling="no" />

Personalized Node Profiles

Every node visible on the network gets a page on Amboss to view it's connection details and other metrics. But users can claim a node by proving they control the keys. Once a node is claimed you can add additional details to personalize your profile page. Not only does this make it easy for other users to contact you if needed, but it unlocks a fun social aspect to running a node. You can verify your node with other social platforms, add a bio, and even earn badges. Though the main use-case of lightning is as a payment processing network, it has always had an excitement and enthusiastic spirit around it. Features like this make running a node fun and is just another reason why trad-fi can't compete. My personal favorite node personality is BCash_Is_Trash.

Node Communities

Adding on to the previous section's social features you can also create and join lightning network node communities. There are communities all around the world joining the decentralized financial revolution. Currently there are 93 listed on Amboss. The feature-set for these communities is currently being built out, but I have heard during BitDevs talks that there are some great new things in the works.

Keysend Billboards

On the homepage and on each node's page there is a keysend billboard. Anybody can post a message here which adds another social dynamic but it can also display important information to other users. Further to this idea, users can subscribe to announcements from other node's on the network who can broadcast a message to their subscribers. Messaging on the lightning network is possible and Amboss has utilized this feature and created some interesting use-cases.

Prime

The majority of Amboss services are available completely free, but they do have a Prime membership which currently costs $8/month and gives you access to even more features. If you find all of the free features are more than what you need, you can still subscribe to support the projects development. I subscribed right away solely because I could tell how much work went into making a project of this caliber and I think it benefits the bitcoin ecosystem greatly.

That is the end of my feature highlight for Amboss Space, and I didn't even cover everything! You will have to check it out for yourself to see it all. With all of these features packed in, it's hard to choose a favorite. But I would have to say the best part is that the app is dark mode by default! XD

Here are some links for Amboss:

I know the team behind Amboss cares about it being a community based project. So you should reach out to them if you have any suggestions, ideas, or feedback on what you would like to see in the application!

Thanks for reading and happy stacking, here is my node information if you would like to connect with me: secondl1ght. 🌩️

Privacy tools for the information age 🔐

secondl1ght — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 02:18:10 +0000

When I was first learning how to code I created a website called Privacy Tech Resource which was a curated list of privacy tools that I have found useful and recommend others to use. I have since taken down that site, but thought I would write a blog post containing the same information and some updated resources too.

It's no secret that privacy is at an all time low in human history. Many people would like to reduce their online exposure but are unsure of how to do so or think it is too much work or impossible altogether.

The good news is that there are many tools to help protect yourself online and they are no harder to use than the same applications already used by regular people every day.

Certain companies including Facebook and Google I would recommend avoiding entirely even if using the following privacy tools, but I understand that this takes some time and effort and not everyone is ready to begin the process.

Each tool is additive so even just using one or two will be a great improvement if you are starting from zero. You don't need to start using every tool at once, although it is fun and exciting reclaiming your privacy rights and I encourage everyone to do this!

One final note is that this is not nearly an exhaustive list of all the privacy tools out there. There are many great privacy projects and 3 good questions to ask when you are evaluating the validity of a project are:

Is it open source?
What is it's revenue modal?
Does it have a solid user base and community?

There is a fantastic website you can check out with a more complete list and additional information about online privacy called Privacy Guides.

Now here are the tools:

Web Browsers 🌐

Browse the web safely and privately

Brave

This browser is feature rich for advanced users but comes with privacy by default for non-technical users as well. They have integrated optional Tor and IPFS support that is as easy as a click of a button.

Tor

Tor is likely the most private way to browse the internet. Not only will you be protected from ads and tracking but your IP address will also be shielded from websites you visit, giving you greater anonymity. In addition to that, even your ISP will not see your network traffic because it is routed through multiple nodes before reaching the destination. Tor is a non-profit and is used by many people worldwide who's lives depend on privacy. If you enjoy the service or just want to support human rights, please consider donating to the Tor Project.

Bromite

Bromite is a good mobile-only option and available on F-Droid.

Browser Extensions 🔌

Harden your browser even further

ClearURLs

Websites can add extra and unnecessary information to URLs in order to track you. This extension clears all of that metadata, giving you only the URL you actually require to surf the web.

Cookie AutoDelete

We all hate cookies that follow you around the internet right? Well if you don't want to disable them entirely in your browser, then you can add this extension and set the parameters for when you would like them to be removed.

Decentraleyes

Protects you against tracking through "free", centralized, content delivery.

HTTPS Everywhere

Brought to you by the good folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, HTTPS Everywhere is essential. Some browsers have this available as a setting now but the extension is still a good add-on. There is really no excuse for a website to not have a certificate these days seeing as they are available for free from Let's Encrypt!. If you visit a website using HTTP instead of HTTPS, that means any data you enter is wide open for the world to see, including payment information. This extension will force all websites to use HTTPS.

Privacy Redirect

Privacy Redirect is an awesome extension that will redirect URLs from popular sites like Twitter, Reddit and YouTube to privacy respecting frontends. This way you still get to view the content you want, but can do so in a much better way.

uBlock Origin

The web browsers I recommend will come with ad and tracking blocking by default. However, I like to use uBlock on top of these default settings for anything that may slip through the initial filters.

Messaging & Video Calls 💬

Encrypted communication & private connections

Signal

Did you know that all of your text messages are sent un-encrypted? That is unacceptable. Signal provides an easy to use mobile or desktop app. When you message other Signal users your communication will be end-to-end encrypted, the way it should be.

Matrix

Matrix provides secure AND decentralized communication using the IRC protocol on the backend with an easy to use interface on the frontend. This platform is great for online communities.

Keet

The engineers at Keet took private communications a step further by not only allowing for easily encrypted messages, but the protocol itself is peer-2-peer. Meaning that there aren't even any trusted third parties involved in the data transfer and all communication happens directly between you and the person you are talking with. Now that is cool.

Jitsi

Jitsi is an open source and privacy respecting video conferencing application.

Email ✉️

Secure correspondence

ProtonMail

Secure and encrypted email based out of Switzerland, Proton offers a free and paid version of their service. This is an excellent alternative to Gmail which scans users emails to sell data. Emails will be end-to-end encrypted to other ProtonMail users or if you set a password to non-Proton users. There are many other useful features such as expiration times and more.

VPN 🔒

Secure your network traffic

Mullvad

Mullvad is a great VPN option offering a super easy sign-up process. In fact, there is no real sign-up required. You can pay via bitcoin if you want and no further information is needed. You are generated your own unique account identifier to give you access to your tunnels.

ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN, like all VPNs, will block websites from tracking your IP address to reveal your identity. It will also hide your network traffic from your ISP. But it will be visible to the VPN provider, however Proton states they do not keep logs. It is up to you to decide if this is enough to suit your use-case.

Search Engines 🔍

Search privately and with less influence

Brave Search

Search with privacy and independent results for a massively improved experience. I have been using Brave Search since it's beta release with no issues.

App Store 📩

Free and open source apps

F-Droid

F-Droid is your mobile app store that contains only free and open source software. Free as in freedom.

Social Media Frontends 📱

View from a distance

Nitter

For Twitter inside the web browser there is Nitter, you are able to view all the same information as the real thing.

Fritter

If you want a mobile app that allows you to follow accounts and have a feed, that's what Fritter does. You can have your own private Twitter feed.

Twidere

This open source Twitter app lets you have full functionality if you have an account. You can still participate, but from a distance.

CloudTube

CloudTube is a private YouTube frontend inside the browser, you can even have subscriptions if you enable a cookie for it. Isn't it relaxing not having a page full of suggested videos?

FreeTube

FreeTube is a private desktop application for YouTube, it is my favorite and I personally use it every day. You can hide many annoying YT features to have a clean interface, you can also create profiles to categorize your subs.

NewPipe

To complete the YT alternative stack, there is NewPipe for mobile. You now have no excuse to ditch Google. You can access YT privately via the browser, desktop or mobile. Happy viewing!

Bibliogram

A browser based frontend for IG. The project has since been deprecated by the maintainer but I wanted to include it as a shout-out to the hard word that was put in during its operations.

libreddit

A private Reddit frontend in the browser.

Infinity

A mobile frontend app for Reddit where you can sign into your account and have all the same functionality, minus the ads and tracking.

Twire

Ad-free and open source Twitch mobile application available on F-Droid. You can sign into an account or watch anonymously.

Maps 🗺️

Open data

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is an alternative to Google that is both open source and open data. You can use OSM directly or there are many applications built on top of OSM using their openly available API. Another cool feature is that you can help contribute to the map by adding data yourself!

Podcasts 🎙️

Support the little guys

Podverse

There is a dedicated team behind this small open source project and they have integrated bitcoin payments within the app, so you can send tips to all your favorite shows.

Translations 🌎

Translate without tracking

Lingva

Similar to the social media frontends listed above this app allows you to use services that would otherwise be a privacy nightmare in a private way.

Wiki 📖

Access information without worries

Wikiless

Another FOSS alternative frontend focused on privacy specifically.

Operating Systems 👨‍💻

Privacy focused OS

LineageOS - Mobile

If you use an Apple device you should switch to Android, Apple has openly admitted to scanning users devices (plus it's closed source). If you use Android already then you should use a custom OS that is de-Googled. There are a few options out there including Graphene and Calyx but both of those require using a Pixel device. So that is why I recommend LineageOS. It has a large contributor community and is available for many different mobile phones. You will need a bit of tech knowledge in order to follow the guide and flash this to your phone. Having software that you control on a device that you paid for is the way it should work. No more bloatware or spyware. You can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you have now kicked surveillance tech to the curb.

elementary OS - Desktop

If you don't want to buy a Linux laptop you can flash any distribution onto whatever existing laptop you have. This will again take a bit of technical knowledge but it is not too hard. elementary OS is a good option that is privacy respecting and blazing fast because of this.

Hardware 💻

Secure, private and open source

Star Labs

Star Labs make high quality, open source Linux laptops. You can choose from a variety of different operating systems to be pre-installed. Everything will work out of the box with impressive boot-up speeds. All levels of users will enjoy an incredible experience using Linux, especially if you are coming from Windows. There are a few modals available that you can customize depending on how much RAM you require and other preferences.

That is the list to get you started on your digital privacy journey. Please reach out if you have any questions! 🙂

"Ultimately, saying that you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. Or that you don't care about freedom of the press because you don't like to read. Or that you don't care about freedom of religion because you don't believe in God..." — Edward Snowden, Permanent Record

The state of bitcoin (plug and play) nodes 🌐

secondl1ght — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 14:21:00 +0000

Everyone can run a bitcoin full node, and you should too!

While it may sound complicated at first, the bitcoin node software space has come a long way over the past few years. There are many options to choose from to get connected to the bitcoin network and begin syncing the blockchain in minutes.

You may be wondering why someone would want to run their own node. The main reason for doing this is to validate that the bitcoin you hold in your wallet actually exist. This sounds alarming, but you cannot verify this fact unless you have a copy of the blockchain history yourself. While it is unlikely that the bitcoin you hold is 'fake bitcoin', the reality is: if you are using a wallet that is connected to somebody else's node, then you are trusting them with the authenticity of your funds. A good way to think of it is:

'If my bitcoin live on the blockchain, then I should probably have a copy of that ledger to make sure they are there.' - a humble stacker 🤠

Other reasons for running your own node are:

greatly improved privacy (if you use a public node you expose your IP address and XPUB to whoever is offering this service. this can be used to view all of your funds associated with a wallet and potentially link them to your identity.)
have a voice during bitcoin protocol upgrades (the bitcoin protocol is continually under development, you may agree or disagree with some of the proposed changes. by running a node you get to choose which version of bitcoin you want to support in these situations.)
become censorship resistant (trusted third parties are security holes. by running a full node you are guaranteed to have access to the bitcoin network anytime and without asking for permission. you get to choose when you want to broadcast a transaction.)
decentralize the network (help make it impossible to shutdown bitcoin by adding a node to the distributed network of peers that are communicating across the globe. another small beacon of freedom will come online and discover others who speak the same language.)

Connecting to the bitcoin network is an exciting and rewarding experience. Even though it is all code - there is something magical about bringing a new node online and joining in the decentralized revolution. There are thousands of nodes ready to sync with you their copy of the immutable bitcoin history, all the way back to the game-changing Genesis Block.

The fact that you can verify every single transaction on a global permissionless financial network that settles billions of dollars of value a day, on consumer grade hardware, for a few hundred dollars, and run this anywhere in the world, is an incredible networking and human ingenuity feat to behold.

So what are you waiting for? Feel the sparks fly and plug in YOUR node today!

I have put together a list of easy to use bitcoin node options for anyone looking to get started. For each option I have included some basic information, but I have also provided links to the projects so that you can DYOR and decide for yourself which plug and play node you would like to use and support. Each node should have a guide and some kind of support channel to help you get up and running seamlessly.

Some of these projects offer more than just a bitcoin core node with additional services like a lightning node, coinjoin software, and other useful bitcoin applications. Also many of these projects run over Tor by default, so you will have good privacy features right out of the box.

I have listed these in alphabetical order. Please note that many of the options with prices also offer a free DIY version. Lastly, many of these projects are open source and are open to contributors.

Citadel

runcitadel.space
Price: Free or donation (hardware not included)
This is a great open source project with a nice user-interface, it also has good documentation for installing on a Raspberry Pi or on any computer running Linux.

myNode

mynodebtc.com
Price: $429 USD
One of the oldest plug and play node projects, myNode has a loyal user-base and may be the easiest option out there.

nodl

www.nodl.it
Price: $529 USD
Another project that has been around for a while, nodl has an extra focus on security with features like full disk encryption and a killswitch.

RaspiBlitz

raspiblitz.org
Price: €369 EUR
The RaspiBlitz is a pillar in the bitcoin node space and they have recently added a web interface.

RoninDojo

ronindojo.io
Price: $599 USD
Privacy maximalists will love the folks building this software, they are connected with the Samourai Wallet crew and take no shortcuts in creating this privacy-focused offering.

Start9 (Embassy)

start9.com
Price: $539 USD
A fully custom operating system backs the Embassy personal server that your bitcoin core node will be running on.

Umbrel

umbrel.com
Price: Free (hardware not included)
Likely the most popular DIY node software out there, Umbrel has brought more awareness to the importance of self-hosting.

As you can see there are many great options to easily run a bitcoin full node. If I missed any projects please let me know. Once you have your node up and running don't forget to connect it to whichever wallets you are using.

For more detailed information about bitcoin core you can check out these useful links:
bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core
bitcoin.org/en/full-node
bitcoin.org/en/posts/how-to-run-a-full-node

Thanks so much for reading and I hope this article will inspire you to: 'don't trust, verify!'. 🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

How to accept bitcoin lightning tips on your website ⚡

secondl1ght — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 05:25:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered how to accept bitcoin tips on your website? Well this is the guide for you!

In this guide I will walk through the steps to start stacking satoshis (sats) from your website visitors.

This guide is meant for accepting donation-like payments similar to 'buy me a coffee' and not for selling products. If you want to incorporate accepting bitcoin payments as a merchant, I would recommend looking into BTCPay Server or CoinOS (for in-person POS).

This guide is also specific to the bitcoin lightning network which is a layer 2 network built on top of the bitcoin blockchain. Lightning enables faster, smaller, and cheaper payments, while not compromising on the properties of the settlement base layer.

In fact, accepting payments over lightning can actually improve important aspects such as transaction privacy rather than using a static bitcoin address (which can be viewed by anyone). This has historically been the method most people have taken.

Enough talking - let's start doing!

STEP 1 - Get a lightning address ⚡

The first task you need to complete is getting a lightning address. This looks exactly like an e-mail address except it will allow you to receive lightning payments from anywhere. How cool is that?! 😎

Head over to lightningaddress.com and choose from one of the many providers to get your very own lightning address.

There are lots of options to choose from, but one of the quickest and easiest options is Alby. You can get setup in just a few clicks.

Once you have a lightning address setup like secondl1ght@getalby.com you are ready to move onto the next step.

Note: You may want to use a VPN or Tor and a private e-mail address to protect your identity when using bitcoin, and avoid using platforms that ask for too much information if possible.

STEP 2 - Add your lightning address to your website 👨‍💻👩‍💻

Now that you are able to receive bitcoin lightning payments you will want to display this information on your website.

Of course you can simply place the address anywhere on your site and instruct users to send you sats if they would like to, but I will explain a couple of ways to integrate even further into your website.

WebLN and Alby 🐝 meta tags

WebLN is a standard for integrating bitcoin lightning with the web.
Alby is a bitcoin lightning browser extension that allows anyone to easily send and receive bitcoin on the web and interact dynamically with certain websites (your website will now be one of them!).

Place the following <meta> tags into the <head> of your HTML.

<meta name="lightning" content="lnurlp:secondl1ght@getalby.com">
<meta property="alby:image" content="/images/avatar.png">

Replace secondl1ght@getalby.com with your own lightning address that you created above in STEP 1.

Replace /images/avatar.png with the path to an image you would like displayed to Alby users when they send you sats.

Here is how the Alby browser extension looks normally when navigating the web:

When Alby users navigate to your website after you enter the <meta> tags, Alby will turn blue like this:

This will notify users that your website accepts lightning payments natively.

They can now click on the Alby icon and send you bitcoin just like this:

Tipping widget

Another option is to add an easy to use tipping widget directly on your website. Luckily a cool bitcoin developer named René Aaron has made this possible!

Visit the website widgets.twentyuno.net and follow the instructions to create your very own bitcoin lightning tipping widget. You can customize the colors, avatar, and message to make it look how you want. Here is an example:

When you are ready you can add a few lines of code that are provided into the HTML of your website and your new bitcoin lightning widget will be operational. The code looks like this:

<lightning-widget name="" accent="#20c997" to="reneaaron@getalby.com" image="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/07e22939e7672b38c56615068c4c715f?size=200&default=mm&rating=g" />
<script src="https://embed.twentyuno.net/js/app.js"></script>

STEP 3 - Watch the sats stream in! 🥳

Once you have your lightning address setup on your website, you just have to wait for users to discover it and send you some sats if they would like to support your work.

You can view your balance, incoming payments, and withdraw your funds with whichever wallet you chose to setup your lightning address in STEP 1.

You can either HODL those newly acquired bitcoin or start sending and spending them yourself to complete the bitcoin circular economy!

If you chose Alby as your wallet then here is a directory of WebLN websites that you can interact with: makers.bolt.fun. One example would be to fund crowdfunding initiatives you find valuable on Geyser.

That's it!

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this information useful. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out or reply to this post.

If you are new to bitcoin and want to learn more there are a ton of resources online but a good place to start might be bitcoin.org. Some good topics to research would be self-custody, running a node, and privacy best practices.

Happy stacking 🙂

₿

How to Teach Yourself to Code and Start a New Career (or at least how I did it)

secondl1ght — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 01:25:00 +0000

👨‍💻👩‍💻

Over the past 9 or so months I have taught myself how to code and started a new career as a Web Developer. I thought I would make a blog post about my self-taught journey so that others may find some inspiration and/or useful information from it. So here it is - my tips and advice to those considering or starting their own coding journey!

I will structure this post into the main steps that I took along my path and at the end I will include some general tips and tricks that I have learned along the way.

The first thing I think it is important to understand as you embark on this quest is that what you are doing is not crazy. It is entirely possible to teach yourself how to code and in many ways it is actually preferable than following a traditional path, such as university with a computer science degree. You get to learn faster, save money, and start your career much sooner by going this route. The only requirements are time, effort, and a commitment to achieving your goals. You can realistically teach yourself the fundamentals and get a position as a Junior Developer in about 3-6 months. If you commit to coding at least a few hours a day for 5 days a week. I have heard many stories of people who were able to achieve this even while managing many other difficult life tasks, like raising kids. If you want to make this happen, you CAN do it.

With that being said, here is what I found worked for me. There are many ways of doing this such as bootcamps, but the truly self-taught route is by far the cheapest and best option for people who are self-driven and motivated to learn, in my humble opinion.

Now, onto the guide:

1. Choose an Area to Focus

The first step is to decide an area to focus. Development is a massive subject and there are many sub-categories to choose from. I would personally recommend choosing between either Back-End or Front-End, as these 2 positions tend to be the most popular for finding a job once you are ready.

But there are many other positions such as Dev-Ops, Data Analyst, Quality Assurance and more. Do a bit of research on each category of development and see what peaks your interest. For me, the visual aspect of front-end development is what I found to be a great starting point into the big world of development.

Within these main categories there are further areas you can focus, for example web development vs mobile development. My recommendation is web, that is what I have found the most interesting personally, but everyone is different. Desktop applications are still developed but for the broadest job possibilities, I believe web or mobile are the best choices.

2. Pick a Learning Platform and Start Teaching Yourself!

There are many fantastic online resources for learning how to code. Lots of these resources have career specific courses and learning paths that you can choose from. For example, Codecademy offers a Front-End Engineer career path that includes months of valuable content that will keep you busy and progressing your skills.

I will list some of the websites I have found here in no particular order. Do some research on each of them and see which one you like. I would recommend taking one of the bigger courses that bundle together many skills rather than lots of smaller courses, but whatever works for you to learn is great!

As you go through your chosen course remember to pace yourself, development is a marathon not a sprint. There may be times where you get overwhelmed and stuck. If you can't solve a specific problem, don't get discouraged. If you persevere, you will be able to look back at the same problem months later and understand it with ease.

If you are truly stuck then don't be afraid to move on and come back later. If you think something is not actually relevant to your future career goals then you can even skip some sections entirely. For example, some courses may teach you Data Structures and Algorithms. While these may be good to know, they are likely not necessary for your first job. You will be learning at a very fast pace and processing lots of new information, so it is important to focus on the entry-level skills that you will need to get a job and not get lost into some more advanced concepts at the beginning.

3. Setup a GitHub Account

GitHub gives you the ability to showcase all of your work to the world and future employers. Make all of your work open source. Many employers will review your GitHub to see your activity and your code. You will learn how to use Git as you take your course, but getting this profile setup as early as possible is a good idea in my opinion.

4. Create a Portfolio

Once you have some fundamentals in your tech stack under your belt you should start working on your portfolio. Make it interesting and make it look good. Don't be afraid to use tech like Bootstrap components, or borrow ideas from templates. This will be the first real project you work on, so if you don't code it from the ground up that is OK. The goal is to make a nice looking site that showcases your skills and tells people about yourself. If you are focusing on back-end development, then you could even use a template for this. Employers will not necessarily be too concerned about your front-end abilities.

Have fun with this, showcase yourself to the world and let everyone know what interests you have! As you create projects you can update this website. It will be a living site as you progress and gain new skills to show-off. I will link my site here for some ideas - design is not my strong-suit, so there are much better looking portfolios out there. However this will give you an idea on the details to include in your own portfolio.

secondl1ght.site

5. Start Working on Projects

This may be required as part of the course you are taking, you should make at least 3 different projects with whatever technologies you are learning. Learning from your course is good, but the real learning happens when you go off into the wild and build something from scratch.

It doesn't have to be super complicated, but challenge yourself to put the skills you have been learning to use, and then showcase these projects in your portfolio. I will link a couple of my personal projects that I worked on while I was learning to code here. You will see that they are fairly simple, but I learned SO much by building these and actually writing code to solve problems in real-life.

This is a MUST to compliment your course work. When building projects, choose ideas that are fun to you. If you are enjoying the project, it will make it much easier to finish. Don't just build a generic X project, come up with a cool idea and run with it.

6. Utilize Community Resources to get Un-stuck

There will be points in your self-taught journey that you get stuck. Not having a teacher or fellow students to ask questions can be hard. Luckily there are many online communities that you can turn to for asking questions.

Whatever tech you are using likely has a Discord channel. If you are learning React for example, make sure you join the React discord and ask questions there. You may even find a mentor willing to help you on an ongoing basis.

When asking questions make sure you have put the work in yourself first, don't use these communities as a crutch. When you first encounter an error message your first response should not be to post it in the chat. Make sure to spend at least an hour or more trying to figure it out on your own first. This is will help you learn, debugging is half of programming really.

7. Contribute to Open Source

After you have built a few of your own projects I would recommend contributing to open source. Find an open source project that you are interested in and start getting familiar with working with others through contributions.

The open source community is very welcoming in general and you should be able to find somewhere you can help. There is an annual open source hackathon for beginners called Hacktoberfest which is a GREAT way to start out.

Consider your open source contributions as your first real work experience and make sure all of your work is professional and high quality.

8. Create a Resume and Job Prep

Once you have completed your course, created a GitHub profile and a portfolio with a few projects, joined some online communities, and made open source contributions, I think you are ready to make a resume and start preparing for applications!

By this point you should have a solid understanding in the fundamentals of whatever dev category you have chosen. You should feel comfortable working with your tech stack and speaking technically to other developers at an entry level.

There are many guides to interviews and resumes so I won't go into too much detail here, but try to make your enthusiasm stand out from the rest.

When prepping for interviews you may be intimidated by the level of knowledge some people are telling you to study. Certain companies purposefully use extremely hard coding challenges for their interviews, but I think the industry as a whole is moving away from this method. Unless you are trying to get a job in Big Tech (which I wouldn't recommend), then I think having more applicable, job-based knowledge should be enough to get you in the door.

Being a self-taught developer you will need someone to take a chance on you. But once you get your foot in the door, you will be able to work hard, and prove yourself to be a valuable team member.

Most jobs are now remote so you should be able to apply to a broad range of positions all around the world. Don't be afraid to take contract/freelance positions with small startups companies. This is normal and while it may not be as secure as a traditional job, it is a good way to get experience.

Here is a good remote workers job board for devs:

And if you are a bitcoiner:

Bitcoiner Jobs

9. Choose a Specific Field that Interests You

For me this was bitcoin, I love bitcoin and wanted to specifically get a developer job in the bitcoin industry. By choosing a more niche area to focus your applications, you potentially narrow down the amount of interest from other applicants. You also get to showcase your additional domain specific knowledge on the subject market you are applying for, which gives you an edge.

The development world is vast so you should be able to zone-in on a specific area that interests you. Other people will recommend to just apply to as many jobs as possible, but I think if you focus on an area that you are truly passionate about, then you will be even more likely to get a position.

10. Don't get Discouraged

The job search may take several months and during that time you need to stay motivated and continue to code. Coding is a life-long journey and taking a significant amount of time off will likely affect your progress.

Don't get burnt out, keep your eye on the goal and do not get discouraged when you will inevitability get turned down. If you have put the time and effort in, and know how to code, then it is only a matter of time before someone recognizes this and takes you onto their team.

There might be people who do not believe in you or recognize your skillset and drive, do not listen to them. Always remain focused and determined to achieve your goal of becoming a developer.

11. Once You Get The Job

Congratulations on becoming a Developer!!! Now bust your ass and show the company that hired you that they made the right decision. This is where the real learning starts. After you get real job experience you are off to the races, many doors will open up for you. Skilled developers are in high demand and it will remain this way. Don't just be a developer, be a good one.

Being a developer means being a problem solver, use all the resources available to you to solve these problems.

Have fun, stay humble, and enjoy your new found career, you put the work in and you earned it!

12. Extra Tips and Tricks

Here is some extra info that I found useful:

Stay Organized

There will be a flood of information that you will learn at the beginning, it's important to stay organized to keep track of everything.

For me this meant creating an extensive bookmarks bar in my web browser. Yes, a bookmarks bar with 100's of links. I have a category for each piece of tech that I use and sub-categories within these. For example, I have an HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Svelte, and so on bookmark folder where I keep valuable resources that I can refer back to as I work.

Get Off the Platform ASAP

In your course you will likely have an embedded text editor to get you started. As soon as you can, start working on setting up your local dev environment. This means being familiar with the command line and installing a text editor (I recommend Atom).

It's important to start getting comfortable and familiar with your local dev environment, this is your battle-station.

Other Guides

There are lots of guides out there for creating a portfolio, resume, interview-prep etc. Check out lots of other guides.

Get Some Real Hardware

Once you have given coding a try and decided that this is the path for you - it would be good to invest in proper hardware. A nice laptop with a good amount of RAM, a good wireless mouse and mechanical keyboard. For operating systems I highly recommend using Linux. Do some research on different Linux distributions, but as a beginner I would recommend PopOS.

Also invest in a good chair and take pride in your coding setup - you will be spending many hours here, so make it awesome!

Listen to Coding Podcasts / YouTube

There are many awesome podcasts focused specifically on coding. Find some that you like, and learn while you are driving around, or whenever you have free time. One really good one I can recommend is called Syntax.

For YouTube there are also many good channels, one of which is this OG developer sharing some wisdom with us: Stefan Mischook.

Roadmaps

Here's a really cool roadmap website for many different development career paths. It will look overwhelming at first, but it will feel incredible to look back at this and see how far you have come. It is a great way to visualize your journey.

Get Really Good at the Internet

Understand that a big part of coding is searching the internet for solutions to problems. It is normal for senior developers to search up questions to problems they are facing. The internet is awesome - use it.

13. Wrap-up

Well I think I have covered the main points that I had in mind and wanted to share. Hopefully if you have read this far that means you found this blog post to be useful. Thanks for reading and good luck on your coding journey! Just remember that while at times it may feel like an impossible task, you will become a developer if you just keep trying.

Take care 🙂

P.S. If you want to find out if you are a real developer after you learn how to code, you can take this quiz. 😋