Programming Zero Knowledge Proofs: From Zero to Hero

As someone with zero knowledge regarding Zero Knowledge Proofs in a programming context, can someone give me a basic explanation regarding the utility? I do understand the basic principle of ZKP’s, but as yet I’m failing to understand how this would be applied in industry.

If you wanna do it in a flexible way that is very easy to use and essentially the future of ZK, use Powdr [1]. Just write your code in rust nostd and be done with it. It&#x27;s a compiler, basically. Once you use it, you&#x27;ll never go back to hand-massaging polynomials. It&#x27;d be like writing assembly. Sure, some can do it, and it can be fun, but why do it if there are compilers out there to do the heavy lifting for you? :)<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;powdr-labs&#x2F;powdr">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;powdr-labs&#x2F;powdr</a>

Another demonstration of Zero-Knowledge Proofs:<p>A paper-tech protocol for validating Sudoku solutions without revealing the solution:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;zudoku.xyz&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;zudoku.xyz&#x2F;</a>

&gt; We can take a digital identity card and prove that we are over 18 years old &gt; Without revealing anything else, like your full name or address<p>If you are in this articles audience you would simply state the producer of the ID card signs a statement that the person is over 18. No ZKP needed.<p>The article like many others would be improved with a better example.

What does everyone think about the &#x27;trusted&#x27; setup part of zero-knowledge proofs? Is this a deal breaker for some use-cases or can this phase be done without worrying that the entire process has been hijacked... As has been a core goal of many ah... &#x27;security&#x27; councils in the past.

I wrote ZKPs off as hype ~2 years ago - is it a legit concept outside blockchain marketing? Someone help me understand how it&#x27;s different from hashes and access tokens?<p>&gt; <i>&quot;Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are a method for one party to cryptographically prove to another that they possess knowledge about a piece of information without revealing the actual underlying information.&quot;</i><p>So, like this?<p>1. An app needs to confirm a user login is correct<p>2. But the app can&#x27;t know the user&#x27;s password because it&#x27;s a secret<p>3. So the app instead checks for a hash which only the correct password would translate into<p>4. Now the user can enter their password, and the app can verify the password is correct without actually knowing it<p>What am I missing?

If people are interested in trying ZKPs you can write programs in noname[1] in the noname playground[2] and have them compiled down to circuit and also prove&#x2F;verify them. It&#x27;s mostly a demo but the language is actively being developed and there&#x27;s a list of easy tasks to pick up on in the main repo.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;zksecurity&#x2F;noname">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;zksecurity&#x2F;noname</a><p>[2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;noname-playground.xyz&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;noname-playground.xyz&#x2F;</a>

I recommend the moon math manual, it&#x27;s a good way to learn this.

Can I prove that I&#x27;m a part of an org and use this as SSO?

The language they use looks surpisiningly like Verilog.

Are there any real uses of ZKP outside of blockcrap?

This is one of these technologies that is indistinguishable from magic.