Blockchain Programming: Cryptocurrency is now not a new phrase to many people around the globe. Unless you have not been reading about what has been trending for the last few years, you might not have known about digital currency and the technology used.
Cryptocurrency has been getting a lot of limelight since digital currency was introduced to the public. Though many people marvel at various digital currencies’ success, many fail to notice what has made crypto possible.
The technology behind cryptocurrency is Blockchain technology. Just like digital currency, Blockchain technology has a lot to offer developers in various fields. The technology has shown a lot of room for improvement and has many benefits.
Many experts in different sectors are currently putting many resources on developers to develop various projects relying on Blockchain technology. Since a lot of focus is on Blockchain technology and many people are interested in the subject, it is estimated that many jobs will come as a result of Blockchain.
As a developer or interested in Blockchain technology, it is high time you consider the various Blockchain development platforms and languages.
In a short time, the demand for well-informed people in Blockchain technology will drastically increase. Just like many other forms of technology, Blockchain tends to have its advantages and disadvantages.
But before we delve into that, let’s look at the basic blockchain concepts that you should know as a developer.
What is Blockchain?
The first thing that many developers who would like to enter into the blockchain world should know is the basics of the technology.
Just as the name suggests, blockchain is a chain of blocks with each block containing a form of data. One of the main things that have led to blockchain technology’s reliability is that each piece of information in a given block cannot be altered or removed.
This is what makes this technology good and led to its success.
Blockchain is Decentralized
Another term that you need to be aware of is ‘decentralized.’ It is essential to note that a blockchain is not centralized. This means that it is not stored at a single location, thus the term decentralized. The saved data is spread through a network of computers, making it even more secure.
Many developers are interested in blockchain technology since it is decentralized. This makes it impossible for an entity to have complete control over the data stored in the blocks.
There tends to be no authority that can control the exchange of any information as blockchain is a peer to peer system. Since it is not a centralized system, decisions are made quite differently from other systems.
There are consensus algorithms that are used in decision-making. Some of the algorithms include proof of work, proof of state, and practical byzantine fault tolerance.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are used in governing transactions between numerous parties. The contracts work by utilizing building blocks that are application-based. How smart contract work will depend on the quality and type of data. There has been a lot of buzz in smart contracts and the potential they have in various sectors.
Mining
Mining in blockchain technology is described as adding new transactions to existing transactions or distributed public ledger. The blocks can’t be forged and are done through the utilization of computational power.
This is how people earn and create new bitcoins.
Here are some challenges you might encounter when developing using Blockchain technology.
Resource Management
The blockchain world is still new to many people, even those who might have some insights. If you plan to develop something using Blockchain technology, you need to be ready to face some challenges along the way. One of the most common challenges faced by developers in the Blockchain arena is resource management.
You may find it challenging to meet all the real-time network demands and other issues that might happen in real-time.
Lower Performance
When choosing a developing language to use when utilizing Blockchain technology, you might notice some low-performance instances. Low performance is a challenge when developing with Blockchain as it is a new thing to many people and is yet to be further developed. One of the main reasons for lower performance is that operations done with Blockchain are parallelizable.
Benefits of Blockchain
Now that you know that developing using Blockchain technology tends to have its downside, let’s talk about its benefits. The benefits of Blockchain tend to be much greater than its disadvantages. The main reason why you might be thinking of entering the Blockchain world might be the many benefits.
The first benefit is transparency. The technology is efficient and has better security compared to other forms of technology. The list of the advantages of working with Blockchain is extensive, and some you may discover along the way. Now that you are up to date with some benefits associated with Blockchain, here are some programming languages.
Solidity
This is one of the essential programming languages one should learn if they plan to work with Blockchain. The language will come in handy to those developing apps or those getting into ICO development. The programming language has several benefits including accessing JavaScript tools, developer friendliness, and being accurate.
Choosing a programming language
As you may know, it doesn’t really matter which programming language you use. As long as you understand the underlying concepts, you can implement them in any given programming language.
But if I was to recommend a language for blockchain development, then it would be Java. As many of you know, it is the language used in developing Android apps.
The language is crucial in the building of smart contracts as it supports object-oriented programming. There are also many Blockchain has several solutions that were have been developed using Java, which you can leverage for your projects.
