The concept of a smart contract does not have a legal definition recognized by the majority – in blockchain terms, the consensus of the cryptocurrency community has not been reached here. But this does not prevent SCs from asserting themselves more and more confidently as one of the most promising ways of using distributed networks.
No doubt that smart contracts still have relapses of childhood illness, like most other types of cryptocurrency projects, but if we compare the advantages and disadvantages, the advantages greatly outweigh. Having many advantages inherent in the blockchain, a smart contract, as its name suggests, is considered a more intelligent application designed to replace its classic paper counterparts.
If the development of a new blockchain is a very costly event both from the point of view of finance and labor costs, then the development of a smart contract does not require the use of a huge staff of performers and attracts investors. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to achieve positive results that can benefit your business without qualified specialists.
The Decimal project development team is ready to implement business improvement concepts focused on the use of smart contracts operating in distributed decentralized networks. The process of developing and launching a smart contract is a complex event, and if you stick to the chosen strategy, then the implementation of such a technological project promises huge benefits in the medium term.
But what is this strategy? Let’s consider the main stages of developing a smart contract, regardless of the niche and type of business.
1. Choosing a distributed network platform
Many investors for the implementation of promising, from their point of view, startups as the main criterion for choosing a blockchain platform are guided by the lists of capitalization of cryptocurrencies, on the basis of which they make the final choice. From the point of view of the implementation of smart contracts, this approach is not suitable, at least because the implementation of the blockchain itself should provide for the possibility of executing smart contracts.
And the BTC blockchain has such capabilities at a rudimentary level with minimal functionality. Ethereum was the first cryptocurrency whose network was initially focused on dApps, server-client decentralized applications implemented through smart contracts. The pioneer got all the best: as for the number of smart contracts operating on this blockchain, it is the undisputed leader, but as of today it has accumulated a lot of shortcomings, which is why the choice of platform is not so simple.
Firstly, due to the excessively overgrown Ethereum blockchain, transactions in it are performed slowly, and secondly, there are scaling issues, which may turn out to be an important negative factor. Finally, the cost of developing smart contracts in this network is much higher than that of competitors, whose number is steadily growing.
According to cyberbee, you can focus on both well-known and proven platforms (Hyperledger, Solana, Cardano) and young smart contract-oriented blockchains that were able to take into account and correct the shortcomings of old-timers (Decimal, Polygon, BSC).
2. Choosing tools for project implementation
First of all, we are talking about the programming languages used. Here the situation is no less confusing. Those projects that focus on the Ethereum blockchain using the internal Solidity language which has become the de facto standard for the development of SC. But today, it has worthy competitors.
Like Viper, which is based on Python 3 with the addition of language features focused on writing smart contracts, it is believed that Viper allows you to write programs with fewer errors, and its syntax is more suitable for code auditing. Among the specialized programming languages for the UK is DAML, based on Corda. Its advantages are cross-platform orientation, high-level language tools, and rejection of tokenization inherent in Ethereum.
But do not underestimate traditional PLs: C++, JavaScript, Go – their advantage is a huge number of libraries, including for working with distributed networks.
It is also important to choose a development environment that provides invaluable assistance to developers at the stages of writing, debugging, and testing code. Among the popular desktop options, we note Atom and, of course, Visual Studio Code. Web tools also have a lot of fans – SettleMint, Remix.
A distinctive feature of smart contracts is the inability to change their code after embedding in the blockchain, so debugging is performed on test platforms (Hyperledger Umbra, Rinkeby, Ropsten). Of course, the test network should be compatible at the blockchain level with your project.
3. Smart contract development
The most difficult and responsible stage. You can try to develop an SK independently, but only if there is a staff of highly qualified specialists – otherwise, there is a high probability of making mistakes in the code, fraught with very unpleasant consequences.
There is also a second option – to use ready-made platforms that provide the opportunity to develop smart contracts using ready-made templates. Programming knowledge is not required here at all; it is enough to set the basic parameters of a smart contract. But the functionality of template-based projects can hardly be called satisfactory.
The third way is the development of the project by a team of experienced professionals. This method is the most common and effective.
4. SC testing
The smart contract testing stage is not always given due attention and is completely in vain. Considering how important the security of the IC is and what is the number of attempts to hack them, we can safely say that debugging and code auditing is vital.
Remember that after deploying a contract on the blockchain, it can no longer be changed without disastrous consequences for a hard fork-type project. This stage is especially important for those smart contracts that are developed on an open-source platform. In this case, attackers have a much better chance of finding a vulnerability in your code in order to use it at their discretion.
And when choosing a test network, you need to take into account its compatibility with the project implementation platform. For example, the Ropsten or Rinkeby networks are fully compatible with the Ethereum blockchain, and the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain is compatible with the Hyperledger Umbra test network.
5. Deployment
The final step of the SC development project is its inclusion in a distributed network. If the previous stage is completed successfully, all identified errors and vulnerabilities are eliminated and excluded from the code, and the deployment of the smart contract should occur without problems. In essence, this will be another transaction with the inclusion of the UK code in the next block on the terms of consensus.
But if errors are found after deployment, it will no longer be possible to change the smart contract – this is the feature of the functioning of the blockchain. The only way to fix errors is to deploy a new SC, while the old one will continue to work. This feature of a smart contract should be taken into account at the stage of writing code.
The Decimal team is a team of experienced and professional blockchain developers who are ready to implement a smart contract project of any complexity. However, you can choose us to perform any of the critical stages of development, no matter if it is writing contract code, auditing, or testing it.
