# What I Learned This Week (Engineering & Blockchain Concepts)
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This week I learned some simple but important concepts in engineering and blockchain
These ideas help when building apps websites and Web3 platforms
**Engineering Concepts**
***1. Roundtrip***
This is the time it takes for a request to leave your device go to the server and come back with a response
Like when you send a message and it shows “delivered” that’s roundtrip
***2. Scaling***
Scaling helps a system handle more users
Vertical Scaling – Add more power like RAM or CPU to one server
Horizontal Scaling – Add more servers to share the work
Horizontal is better for big apps
***3. Latency***
This is the small delay before something responds
If you click and it takes time to load that’s latency
Low latency means faster experience
***4. Throughput***
This means how much work or data a system can process in one second
Higher throughput means better performance
***5. Distributed System***
This is when many computers work together as one system
If one fails the rest still continue
It helps with speed and stability
**Blockchain Concepts**
***1. Blockchain***
Blockchain is a public record system that stores info in blocks and links them
It’s open secure and can’t be changed once stored
***2. Nekamoto Coefficient***
This shows how decentralized a blockchain is
The higher the number the harder it is for one person or group to take control
***3. Blockchain Trilemma***
Blockchains try to balance 3 things
* Security
* Scalability
* Decentralization
But it’s hard to get all 3 perfect at the same time
***4. Blockchain Throughput***
This is how many transactions the blockchain can handle per second
Faster blockchains have higher throughput
***5. Ether Denominations***
Ether (ETH) has smaller parts like
* Wei
* Gwei (used for gas)
* Ether (main one)
| Wei | Equivalent in ETH |
| - | - |
| 1 wei | 0.000000000000000001 ETH |
| 1 gwei (gigawei) | 1,000,000,000 wei = 0.000000001 ETH |
| 1 ETH | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei |
This helps when sending big or small amounts.