Although the world still doesn’t have enough blockchain professionals, there are a lot of enthusiasts who are willing to enter the blockchain sphere and start their journey as developers of this technology. Yet, many newcomers feel a bit lost when they first start learning about blockchain.
That’s why we decided to make a nice starter list of development tools and kits that can kick-start your blockchain development journey. Even if you’re an experienced developer in this sphere, we believe you could still find this list useful. Check out what have we prepared below.
- Mist
To store your Ether tokens, you need to use a proper wallet. Mist is the best tool for this since the Ethereum team developed it — it’s one of the essential tools for all Ethereum developers. To use it and execute smart contracts, you’ll need approximately one terabyte of space.
It’s necessary to download Mist as it is actually a full-node wallet, so make sure to prepare enough space on your PC. Setting up an account on Mist is not difficult, but once you set your password, you’ll not be able to change it anymore due to blockchain’s very nature. Therefore, make sure to remember your password.
- MetaMask
MetaMask may seem simple on the surface, but it’s much more than that. One of the reasons why this tool is popular is that it comes as a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome that lets you browse Ethereum dapps.
Essentially, this tool is a bridge between a browser and Ethereum Blockchain, and you can even use it for serving ERC-20 tokens, including Ether. Those interested in trading cryptocurrency can link MetaMask to exchanges such as Coinbase and Shapeshift.
Unlike Mist, you don’t have to install the entire platform on your PC — all you have to do is load it as a browser plugin.
- Geth
Developed using Go, Geth is an Ethereum node implementation that can help you with many different tasks. For example, you can use it to create smart contracts or explore block history. More importantly, Geth is beneficial for transferring and mining tokens.
Once you install it, you can choose whether to connect it to an existing blockchain or create one by yourself.
The main advantage of Geth is that it makes things easier for developers. It is automatically connected to Ethereum’s mainnet, making all operations more straightforward.
- Solidity
Developing decentralized apps on Ethereum means writing a lot of smart contracts. The best language for doing that is Solidity, an OOP coding language similar to JavaScript. The language enhances the Ethereum Virtual Machine and is Ethereum’s runtime environment.
You can use Solidity for writing and deploying smart contracts for every blockchain.
- Remix
To write smart contracts, you’ll have to use Remix, a browser-based extension that facilitates the entire process. Remix is written in JavaScript so that you can run it from browsers such as Chrome or Firefox.
Smart contracts are written in Solidity, and you can do it in your browser or locally with Remix’s help. If you visit Remix’s site, you’ll load a screen you can immediately use for writing code.
Apart from writing, you can use this open-source tool to test and debug smart contracts. Essentially, Remix is an ultimate tool for smart contracts that every blockchain developer should take into account.
- Truffle
If you don’t feel like using separate tools for smart contract development, you can always go for Truffle — an entire suite dedicated to contract building. The suite makes the whole process of developing dapps easier, and it even offers tools such as Chai that facilitate testing by making it automatic.
On top of that, Truffle helps you manage public and private networks and offers an interactive console where you can make direct contract communication.
- Ganache
Ganache is part of the Truffle Suite and its primary purpose is creating private blockchains on Ethereum. You can use Ganache for testing your dapps, inspecting state, and more, all the while being in control of all the operations taking place on the blockchain.
- Embark
Embark is an entire framework for creating and deploying decentralized apps. Once you create a new smart contract in Embark, you’ll be able to see it in JS Code. Moreover, every time you update the contract, this tool will make automatic modifications to all dapps connected to your contract.
To use Embark, you’ll have to know some of the traditional languages used by web developers, such as Angular, React, or Meteor.
- Solc
The purpose of Solc is quite straightforward — it converts Solidity code into a format readable by the Ethereum Virtual Machine. In other words, Solc is a command-line compiler native to the majority of Ethereum nodes. It’s also possible to use it as an offline compiler.
- Parity
Written in Rust, Parity is one of the essential Ethereum clients that allows you to interact with the blockchain. This fast and secure tool basically offers a development environment that makes it easy to deploy smart contracts to the chain after compilation.
Parity is integrated into a browser, and it even comes with some essential wallet functions, meaning you can use it for Ether transactions.
Final Thoughts: This Is Just a Start
Most of the tools and kits listed in this article are a good way to get started and introduce you to the world of blockchain development. So feel free to explore and choose the ones best suited for your blockchain journey. Once you understand how they work, you’ll be on a good path to making your first dapp.
However, these tools aren’t all there is. Blockchain development is expanding at a rapid rate, and there are many other useful tools. Some of the tools that deserve an honorable mention in this article are Solium, DApp Board, MyEtherWallet, Prysm, Status, Vyper, Liquidity, Infura, Lamden, and Mythril. Hope you find this article helpful. Ping us if you have any questions.