ok i think i have the gist of things, thank you all for your very helpful and insightful responses 
ive not been doing this long so im still getting to grips. if you have any good material on explaining the protocol in depth that would be epic! i have read most of the parts of the main bitcoin wiki but something that can give more of an example would be awesome!
if you cant think of anything then no worries, i always like learning by playing and you guys have been more than helpful as it is
ive not been doing this long so im still getting to grips. if you have any good material on explaining the protocol in depth that would be epic! i have read most of the parts of the main bitcoin wiki but something that can give more of an example would be awesome!
if you cant think of anything then no worries, i always like learning by playing and you guys have been more than helpful as it is
If you haven't read the Bitcoin Whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, that would be a great place to start. It always amazes me how many people go to great lengths to try to understand all the technical details of the protocol without having first at least read over the document that describes why things work the way they do.