This is a guest post by Michael Kordvani. Ever since he was a child, Michael was captivated by technology. When the opportunity arose to spend his life writing about it, Michael didn’t hesitate. He now spends his time exploring and writing about captivating new technologies to introduce to people.
Michaels insatiable desire for new technologies lead him to pursue a computer science degree at Queens College. His work has been published on various technology blogs across the web.
What to Know About Blockchain Development
The chances are you’ve heard about blockchain a lot lately, especially with the popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. This has peaked the interest of just about everybody, from banks and venture capital investors, to people who want to take the leap to become a blockchain app developer and regular folk investing in cryptocurrencies.
While it’s one thing to simply invest in the different currencies available, it’s another thing to understand the development behind blockchain itself. We’re going to take a look at that development process. After all, why simply settle for investing in the car if you can own the petrol that it runs on. The same applies here, investing in the blockchain development itself instead of the currency that was created from it.
Solidity
If you really want to understand blockchain development then a very good understanding of what solidity is will definitely be beneficial. So, what is it?
Solidity is a static-typed programming language. That basically means that if a programming language is statically typed then they go through a process of enforcing and verifying the different constraints of type. Other examples of statically-typed programming languages include Java and C++.
Solidity was designed as a way of creating something called smart contracts which are then executed through the EVM or Ethereum Virtual Machine. So to put it simply, the language allows these smart contracts to be created which when processed and verified can’t be argued with or reversed.
Smart Contracts
Using blockchain technology is becoming more common worldwide and by understanding Solidity you can get a better understanding of investment options as well as potential cryptocurrencies that could be invested in.
So if Solidity creates smart contracts, exactly what are they? To summarize them as simply as possible, they are contracts which exist between two people. Usually, a seller and a buyer but actual currency doesn’t need to take place to execute a smart contract. Data or files could be transferred and this would be the execution of a smart contract.
The thing which makes smart contracts so important is that once they have been executed, they can’t be reversed. This is how they make up part of the blockchain network. They are placed in the chain and are there permanently.
Breaking Down Blockchain
If the concept of blockchain still sounds puzzling to you then we’ll break it down even further. This is important to know for everyone who is considering investing in blockchain technology or for those who are hoping to start with the development aspect of things. So how does blockchain work?
- A requested transaction is sent to collection of different nodes and computers (otherwise known as a P2P system)
- This P2P system will analyze and verify the status of the user and decide whether to approve the transaction.
- If approved, your transaction will be added to a chain of other completed transactions. This is where it becomes a ‘block’.
- Once it is a block in this chain of transactions, it is permanent. There is no way of reversing this transaction at all.
Going back to Solidity, we can begin to think about the different development possibilities we are presented with. For example, you might want to learn the programming language if you want to start learning how to create your own cryptocurrency. Or perhaps you want to become an Ethereum developer or you want to build a decentralized application.
If you want to be involved in the whole blockchain world then the best thing you can do is learn Solidity and from there branch out into the different avenues available to you. Investment opportunities will be easier to understand and gauge and you’ll be able to make better decisions on everything blockchain. Blockchain technologies aren’t going anywhere, so all that’s left is for you to decide whether or not you’re going to be a part of them or not