Radians: A New ARK-Powered Blockchain for Rapid Prototyping
The flexibility afforded to developers using ARK’s blockchain framework allows them to identify needs in the ecosystem and come up with solutions in a quick and efficient manner. Recently PJ and Emsy, two long-standing ARK community members did just that. Let’s dive in and find out how they brought their idea to fruition with Radians.
The Team Behind Radians
Radians was created by ARK community members PJ and Emsy. Both PJ and Emsy discovered ARK in 2017. PJ, who often researched different types of technology, stumbled upon ARK’s initial C++ SDK and the first version of ARK’s Deployer. After doing some preliminary research he concluded that ARK’s technology stack would be great for Internet of Things (IoT) projects. Emsy was drawn by the idea of ARK having multiple blockchains all derived from the same technology.
It wasn’t long until PJ and Emsy started to get involved. One of their first major contributions to ARK was working on ARK Scooters. A proof-of-concept focused on creating a rental solution based on IoT technology and funded by the ARK Grants program. When asked about their experience building ARK Scooters, PJ and Emsy had some thoughts to share:
PJ: The longest part of the project was defining the initial specifications. Once we finalized the specification and got approval from the ARK Grants application process, the communication from the ARK team allowed the project to progress smoothly. We received great support and feedback from the team.
Emsy: For me, ARK Scooters was my first team based bounty project within this community. I applied shortly after the bounty was posted and during this project I had to collaborate with other people from the community, which was new and exciting. I met PJ and a new collaboration was born, we’re still going strong with plenty of ideas.
In the beginning of the project we started working out milestones and specifications with Simon, ARK’s IoT Lead, who guided us through the whole project. The three of us worked on the project for almost half a year and kept track of the progress by doing weekly meetings. The overall experience was great and brought me closer to ARK as a whole.
As Emsy stated, ARK Scooters marked the beginning of his collaboration with PJ. The lessons learned during that project eventually led them to create Radians.
What Problem Does Radians Solve?
When working on multiple proof-of-concepts, PJ and Emsy had to set up a new blockchain from scratch each time. For developers coming to ARK or any blockchain project for the first time, this is an additional step before diving into their ideas and projects. Radians hopes to eliminate that extra layer of complexity by giving community developers access to an open and easy to use blockchain for their prototyping needs.
By working with Radians, developers can focus entirely on their decentralized applications without having to set up or manage their own blockchain infrastructure or concern themselves with the associated costs related to hosting.
When building Radians, PJ and Emsy highlighted some points regarding what it was like working with ARK when deploying their own custom blockchain. As Emsy stated:
I think that the ARK team did a great job on creating a modular toolkit which offers a lot of customization. Their constant development makes deploying bridgechains easier and faster. Working with the GTI allowed me to create custom logic and plug it into a bridgechain.
Emsy emphasized that the modular structure is important because it allows for developers to create reusable blockchain solutions in a flexible manner. In addition, developers can build with the reassurance that the community is helpful and responsive. During roadblocks, Emsy recalled being able to ask questions in ARK’s Slack and receiving answers to all of his questions.
The Long Term Goal for Radians
When speaking to PJ and Emsy about future plans for Radians, they stated that the main goal for Radians was to enable faster prototyping, lower the bar for entry and bring community developers together. By utilizing Radians they hope that developers can save time and be able to allocate their resources into creating plugins and applications.
Radians is free to use for all developers looking to build early-stage proof-of-concepts. Below are a few helpful links to get you started and additionally you can reach out to PJ and Emsy on Slack if you have any questions. Their usernames are, you guessed it, PJ and Emsy.
