user1878: This website lists hundreds of crypto currencies. Some whimsical, others with a unique value.
Is there a catalog, or diff between all the implementations that highlights innovation, or a unique use case? 
My goal is to prioritize which implementations to learn the most (BTC, ETH, and Ripple with the most market cap is my first priority)

user36303: A very large majority of these altcoins are essentially scams. There is a cottage industry that takes a coin, changes something minor (name, logo), and releases it with great fanfare, enticing people to buy it, allowing the forker to unload their typically worthless coins.
As  Нонн Болдырев said, there is a small list of worthwhile coins. I'd leave Ripple out, since it's not a cryptocurrency per se, but otherwise his list seems sensible.
Here's my very short list of interesting currencies:

Monero: adding privacy and fungibility (the most prominent of Cryptonote coins)
Ethereum: smart contracts, ability to create contracts on the blockchain, automatically redeemed when predefined conditions are met
Cryponite: mini blockchain, solving the scaling problem (though it's not being worked on anymore)

I can't comment on the others on  Нонн Болдырев 's list due to not knowing enough about them.

user36201: 99% of altcoins claim an "innovation" that is broken or unproven.
I would say that the first thing to do is look at unique codebases that aren't based on Bitcoin, which basically means (besides Bitcoin) you should look at Ethereum, Ripple, NXT, Monero, BitShares. Then if you're bored, PeerCoin / NuBits and Lisk.
Once you are done with those you can look at altcoins that just clone Bitcoin, but if they don't have whitepapers with cryptography that explains what they're doing then they're just full of hot air.

1878: <p><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/">This website lists</a> hundreds of crypto currencies. Some whimsical, others with a unique value.</p>

<p>Is there a catalog, or diff between all the implementations that highlights innovation, or a unique use case? </p>

<p>My goal is to prioritize which implementations to learn the most (BTC, ETH, and Ripple with the most market cap is my first priority)</p>
 36303: <p>A very large majority of these altcoins are essentially scams. There is a cottage industry that takes a coin, changes something minor (name, logo), and releases it with great fanfare, enticing people to buy it, allowing the forker to unload their typically worthless coins.</p>

<p>As  Нонн Болдырев said, there is a small list of worthwhile coins. I'd leave Ripple out, since it's not a cryptocurrency per se, but otherwise his list seems sensible.</p>

<p>Here's my very short list of interesting currencies:</p>

<ul>
<li>Monero: adding privacy and fungibility (the most prominent of Cryptonote coins)</li>
<li>Ethereum: smart contracts, ability to create contracts on the blockchain, automatically redeemed when predefined conditions are met</li>
<li>Cryponite: mini blockchain, solving the scaling problem (though it's not being worked on anymore)</li>
</ul>

<p>I can't comment on the others on  Нонн Болдырев 's list due to not knowing enough about them.</p>
 36201: <p>99% of altcoins claim an "innovation" that is broken or unproven.</p>

<p>I would say that the first thing to do is look at unique codebases that aren't based on Bitcoin, which basically means (besides Bitcoin) you should look at Ethereum, Ripple, NXT, Monero, BitShares. Then if you're bored, PeerCoin / NuBits and Lisk.</p>

<p>Once you are done with those you can look at altcoins that just clone Bitcoin, but if they don't have whitepapers with cryptography that explains what they're doing then they're just full of hot air.</p>
