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Source: The post is based on the article “The programming languages running the crypto-economy” published in The Hindu on 10th October 2022.
What is the News?
Programming languages help crypto platforms and protocols run effectively.
What are the popular Programming languages of crypto-economy?
Some most important ones are,
C++
C++ is a programming language associated with Bitcoin. While the Bitcoin whitepaper explaining the peer-to-peer electronic cash system is written largely in English, the Bitcoin Core software, which makes transactions possible, uses C++.
It is hailed for being an accessible programming language that users of Java, C, and C# can easily learn due to existing similarities.
It is also one of the most used programming languages, playing a role in the development of operating systems like MacOS and Windows, gaming devices, search engines, and even machine learning.
Solidity
It is the programming language mainly used on the blockchain platform Ethereum. The language is influenced by C++, Python, and JavaScript. It is also known as a ‘curly bracket language’ as it uses the flower bracket special character.
Parts of the Ethereum ecosystem also support several other programming languages such as Python, Ruby, Rust, Java, and more.
Rust
Rust has the unique distinction of being called the “perfect programming language” in 2021 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
He noted Rust was a “close second” to C. Blockchains such as Solana blockchain, The Polkadot blockchain uses Rust.
However, developers have complained that Rust is too difficult to learn. A 2018 survey showed that more than 22% of users did not feel productive using the programming language.
Haskell
Cardano’s smart contract programming language is based on Haskell. Haskell is classified as a purely functional programming language and is hard to learn. But it is well-suited to deliver accurate crypto projects due to its immutability feature.
However, a smart contract failure can cause platform outages, and exploitation of the codes could devalue the entire ecosystem.
