A Comprehensive Guide of Developing Smart Contracts on the Blockchain - Part-I

Any blockchain has the foundation of smart contracts. Decentralized finance uses smart contracts. All DeFi apps function through smart contracts. These are used to ensure transparency and trustworthiness. They participate in the automatic execution of agreements on the blockchain platform. For this reason, Smart contracts have been highly regarded and valued in blockchain technology. I will be explaining how we can build and deploy smart contract in a network of blockchains.

^{Made with Canva}

Basic Understanding

It is a universal rule that before starting anything we should have the basic knowledge of that specific thing. So before learning about the development and deployment of the smart contracts you should learn about it's basics. You should be aware of the working and the purpose of the smart contracts. You should be aware of the different types of the smart contracts. You should learn that smart contracts are built with the pre defined conditions and they execute when the certain conditions are met. Smart contracts work on the blockchain.

Choose the Right Blockchain Platform

Whenever we try to develop anything first of all we see the different platforms of that specific thing. Similarly choosing right blockchain platform for the development of the smart contracts is necessary. As we know that there are a number of blockchains. But we have to choose the right blockchain according our budget and needs. Ethereum blockchain is used mostly by the developers to build the smart contracts. The reason of choosing Ethereum blockchain is its strong infrastructure and the support of different programming languages. It supports solidity thought virtual machine. There are other Blockchain platforms as well in the market such as binance smart chain, solana, polkadot. These also provide opportunities for the development of the smart contracts.

Choose a Programming Language

^{Image by Pexels from Pixabay}

After choosing the suitable blockchain platform then it is the time to choose the programming language. This programming language will be used to develop the smart contract. Every blockchain platform is associated with the specific programming languages. If I talk about the Ethereum platform then the smart contracts of Ethereum are written using the Solidity language. Solidity is a high kever programming language. It was specially designed for building the smart contracts. The Syntax of solidity is similar with JavaScript. So it is easy for the web developers to understand it's syntax. And new languages Rust and Vyper are also gaining potential to build the smart contracts.

Designing Smart Contract Architecture

In the architecture of the smart contracts it is defined that how different modules of the smart contracts will work in the blockchain network. So a unique structure is made for the smart contracts. In the best architecture of a smart contract includes modularity, separation of concerns and the reusability of the code. It is done to avoid the redundancy in the code. It makes it simple and easy to understand. In order to build the smart contracts use factory, proxy or state machine design patterns. In this way the code of the smart contract will also become flexible and efficient.

Configure Development Environment

It is essential to set up a development environment for smart contracts. It is necessary to write tests and deploy the smart contracts within it. Install some tools and frameworks for the development environment. These include Truffle and Hardhat. These are the Ethereum’s development framework. It helps simplify the process of development. These tools enable us to build the scaffold widget of the project. These are used for the testing and deployment scripts. And it helps in the development of the smart contracts.

Smart contract code writing

Then it is the time to write th code for the development of the smart contracts. After the installation of the development tools and environment start writing the smart contracts. First of all define all the logics for the writing code of smart contracts according to the requirements of your project. Declare the variables and create functions to reuse them. Always follow the best practices. Refactor your code and write the comments for the better understanding of each part of the code. Write the code of the smart contract in such a way it it will help you to find any bug or error. Protect your code to ensure the security of the smart contracts.

Conclusion

Smart contracts are the basic buildings used in the blockchain network in order to proceed with digital agreements in the blockchain network. So before building any smart contracts you should have the knowledge of smart contracts. It is necessary to know how to develop and implement the smart contract in the blockchain. Always follow the ste by step guide. Select the suitable blockchain platform and appropriate programming language to develop smart contracts in the blockchain.