# Development Update #1
This is my first update for the CDAP. I am a bit late in joining the program, and I am also new to the Ethereum protocol. As such, I have just been reading over as many papers, resources, documentations, etc. as possible. Currently, I have been working my way through the yellow paper, as well as reading about current on-going research. There seems to be a lot of research regarding statelessness and state expiry, due to concerns of the growing size of the Ethereum state. Some other research categories include removal of the ```SELFDESTRUCT``` opcode, zkEVM, and other stuff.

## Progress
Although all of this is interesting, I am leaning towards doing something with statelessness, more specifically the portal network. Networking is cool, and I'm learning about it as well right now, so this is a great "side project" where I can actually get some experience implementing a network protocol since that's the best way to learn.

I've been doing 2 things sorta simultaneously right now. First, I have been reading the devp2p specs about the various networking protocols Ethereum uses. I looked through the wire-protocols, rlpx, and am mainly focusing now on discv4 and discv5. This is so I can get an understanding of how the networking system works currently.

The second thing is reading up on current networking research with regards to networking. I've been reading the stateless-ethereum-specs, portal network, and all that jazz to try to understand the problem and how the proposed solution will solve it.

## Possible Projects
Not really sure what all the possible projects are, but I've seen the first one floating around.
- Implementing uTP subprotocol for discv5
- Stateless client work

## Next Steps
- Continue reading the devp2p and stateless-ethereum specs and researching these categories (for stateless--uTP protocol, discv5)
- Look through either the go or rust implementations of the discovery protocols (possibly other protocols as well) and try to understand/code them if time
- Look at other on-going projects related to what I am seeking to do, such as Trin or Fluffy client
- Select a project and define project goals
- Connect with other participants with similar project ideas and seeking out ways to collaborate/work together