Posts tagged "Blockchain Smart Contracts"

Programming Languages for Blockchain Smart Contracts

There is a lot of buzz about smart contracts, blockchain, decentralized finance, and cryptocurrencies these days. Developers are essential to the creation of all of these. Therefore, there is a continuing need for blockchain developers.

Smart contracts can be written in many programming languages. To learn more about smart contract programming, read this article.

Smart contracts in a nutshell

Unlike traditional contracts that require intermediaries, smart contracts execute actions by contract terms. PancakeSwap is one of the decentralized exchanges where smart contracts are in use. Customers can exchange BNB for Ethereum without contacting customer support if they have BNB.

  1. Solidity

A statically-typed, object-oriented programming language designed for creating smart contracts, Solidity was developed for object-oriented programming. Unlike existing programming languages such as C++, Python, or JavaScript, Solidity is built on existing programming principles.

Java and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) share the same hardware as Ethereum and allow smart contracts to be written on Ethereum.

The Ethereum network’s first programming language for smart contracts was Solidity. All calculable functions can be computed with it because it is Turing-complete. However, it is still a relatively new language, which means you will have to fully implement it yourself.

  1. Rust

The Rust programming language is a fast, statically typed, low-level language. Whenever scalability isn’t negotiable, Rust fits the bill. Among the fastest blockchains, Solana uses Rust as its core programming language. The Rust compiler outputs a color-coded error message and further details on the error so that debugging is much easier.

As a result of Rust’s immutability, blockchain applications can be written predictably. Unlike JavaScript and Python, Rust requires you to explicitly state each program construct, which means more code. There are very few libraries for almost everything.

  1. Java Script

There’s a place for JavaScript in the blockchain space because it’s a general-purpose programming language. Developers can easily access blockchain ecosystems by utilizing JavaScript wrappers or libraries. Smart contracts can be created using several programming languages, including JavaScript, on Hyperledger Fabric.

There is a large community of people who support this popular, mature programming language. On the other hand, JavaScript implements dynamic type safety while most blockchain applications are designed using statically typed languages.

  1. Vyper

Vyper is a contract-oriented programming language composed of Python-like constructs targeting the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It features contract-specific features, such as event notifiers and custom global variables. It is deliberately designed to have fewer features than Solidity to make contracts more secure and auditable.

Using Vyper, you can build secure smart contracts that are less prone to attack. Because anything marked constant cannot change state, Vyper supports only a limited number of pure functions.

  1. Yul

To address the needs of different backends, Yul is compiled to bytecode. A common denominator for both Ethereum and WebAssembly is planned by EVM and ewasm (Ethereum-flavored WebAssembly). Solidity uses Yul both for stand-alone assembly and inline assembly.

Yul programs are readable even if they are generated by Solidity compilers. Loops, function calls, and if and switch statements are among the high-level constructs Yul offers. To avoid confusion about concepts such as values and references, it has a default type that can always be omitted.

Yul must be compiled to bytecode, so it takes more time during development because it must be compiled to bytecode.

Final thoughts

Depending on the blockchain you want to work on, you should use a programming language from the above list. Developers prefer Solidity when it comes to Ethereum blockchains, for example.

As the blockchain sector is still developing, we expect to see more conventional language support.