Erlang and Elixir for Blockchain Development

Are you curious about how to build blockchain applications using Erlang or Elixir? You should be! These emerging programming languages are powerful tools to create decentralized systems and smart contracts. In this article, we will explore the advantages of Erlang and Elixir for blockchain development and discuss some tools, libraries, and frameworks available to build blockchain applications.

Why Erlang and Elixir for blockchain?

Before diving into the specifics of blockchain development with Erlang and Elixir, let us first understand why these programming languages are great choices for building decentralized systems.

Distributed systems expertise

Erlang was created originally to develop distributed systems with high availability and fault tolerance in mind. As a result, Erlang has built-in primitives for distributed computing, message passing, and process supervision. Elixir, a newer language that runs on the Erlang VM, inherits these features and takes them further by providing a modern and developer-friendly syntax.

These characteristics make Erlang and Elixir an excellent fit for blockchain development, as blockchains are distributed systems by nature, often with multiple nodes working together to validate and confirm transactions.

Functional programming for smart contracts

Erlang and Elixir are also functional programming languages, meaning functions are the heart and soul of a program, and side effects are minimized. In contrast, object-oriented programming languages mostly rely on mutable state and mutable objects.

This attribute makes functional programming languages perfect candidates for smart contracts development on blockchains, where immutable code runs on a decentralized network. Smart contracts need to be deterministic and not involve state updates, and Erlang and Elixir's functional programming paradigms make it easier to write clean, bug-free code that meets these requirements.

High-performance concurrent computing

Erlang and Elixir's Virtual Machines (VMs) provide high-performance concurrency, which allows blockchain applications to handle multiple transactions simultaneously. Moreover, Erlang offers a battle-tested Erlang Distribution protocol for message passing between nodes, which can be used to build blockchain networks spanning multiple servers.

Domain-specific language for blockchain development

Many blockchain protocols require developers to write in a low-level language such as C or C++, which can be daunting for developers who are not familiar with them. Luckily, there are domain-specific languages (DSLs) like Solidity that make writing smart contracts more accessible. Additionally, if you want to use a functional programming language instead, you can use Scilla, the functional programming Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Tools and libraries for Erlang and Elixir blockchain development

Now that you understand the benefits of using Erlang and Elixir for blockchain application development let's get to the exciting part - the tools and libraries available to make the development process more comfortable and efficient.

Erlang Blockchain Frameworks

The emerging Erlang Blockchain Frameworks are designed explicitly for blockchain developers. For instance, The Erlang Blockchain Explorer(EBE) is an open-source framework for developing and deploying blockchains for businesses. Furthermore, it features ease of use, better validation, and transaction processing speeds. It is an excellent option for organizations that want to move to the next level of blockchain development.

BlockchainLib

BlockchainLib is a lightweight library that allows you to build blockchain applications quickly in Elixir. It includes modules for cryptographic operations, Merkle trees, transaction verification, and block discovery. Blockchains that use this library and can be developed rapidly, from scratch.

Exthereum

Exthereum is a Geth-like client for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It is an Elixir wrapper around the Go implementation of Ethereum, providing a simple way to communicate directly with the Ethereum network. With Exthereum, you can create Ethereum-based blockchains, write smart contracts in Solidity, and interact with the blockchain through the Elixir API.

Phoenix

Phoenix is a modern web framework written in Elixir. While not explicitly designed for blockchain development, it can be used to build user interfaces and backends for blockchain applications. Phoenix provides a high-performance end-to-end stack, including channels for real-time communication and support for GraphQL.

Summing up: Erlang and Elixir are Great for Blockchain Development

In conclusion, Erlang and Elixir are great candidates for blockchain application development. These programming languages are designed explicitly for developing distributed systems with high concurrency, fault tolerance, and message passing. The functional programming paradigm allows developers to write smart contracts that are immutable and deterministic, and the VM's high-performance concurrency makes it ideal for multiple nodes to work together to validate transactions.

There are several tools and libraries to help in building blockchain applications in Erlang and Elixir, including the newly emerging Erlang Blockchain Frameworks, BlockchainLib, Exthereum, and Phoenix.

If you are a developer who has experience in Erlang or Elixir, you will find it easy to pick up blockchain development concepts and start writing decentralized applications in these languages. And if you're not familiar with them yet, you can check out the resources on the internet to learn more about them.

Happy blockchain coding!

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