Learn NEO development and how to advance
By Li Jianying
These words are written for some developers who are about to start learning NEO development but at a loss.
First of all, if you still can not understand UTXO clearly, if you are not skilled in using NEOGUI, if you still can not figure out the difference between Mainnet and testnet, if you can not figure out the relationship between NEO blockchain browser and NEO, You should not read these words,because reaching for what is beyond your grasp is not a good start.
Congratulations, you have known NEO very well and want to develop NEO. This is a road full of challenges, but also full of opportunities for developers.
NEO development is a very general statement. In fact, It simply can not explain what you are doing, what you want.
First, NEO is a package concept of the underlying technologies and surrounding ecosystem of the blockchain.
For such a huge concept, we must first decompose it.
We can generally divide the development of NEO into three general directions
First, NEO underlying technologies
Second, NEO DAPP
Third, NEO peripheral applications
1. NEO underlying technologies
NEO underlying technologies are still quite large areas, including but not limited to: database technology, p2p networking technology, encryption algorithms, consensus mechanisms, compiler technology, and NeoVM.
What can you do if you select NEO underlying technologies?
You can develop the underlying layer of the blockchain yourself and get inspiration from NEO technology.
2. You can correct the weaknesses of the NEO core, solve the NEUG core bugs, and participate in the NEO eco-building from a core perspective.
3. You can more fully understand the implementation details of smart contracts
Due to the tremendous difficulty of this direction, For developers who come to this stage, the training materials are insignificant. Developers at this phase will become the talent that various organizations compete to attract, You are also very welcome to join NEL. Therefore, NEL training materials will not focus on NEO underlying technologies.
2. NEO DAPP
NEO DAPP is the subject that everyone pays most attention to. NEL will spare no effort to promote DAPP development technologies and provide supports including development documentation, technologies and fund for DAPP development.
Smart contract development
True, smart contract development is a core competency in DAPP development. NEL training materials and a large part of the NEL community’s work is to promote NEO smart contract development technologies.
However, we have to say that studying NEO smart contract development technology only is not enough.
To operate a DAPP, the following technologies are also essential. In fact, for the smooth learning of smart contracts and the understanding of its core role in dapp, if you know little about other technologies, learning smart contract development is undoubtedly asking for the moon.
Light wallet development technologies
Yes, you are not mistaken. If you develop DAPP,you have to need light wallet development technology, light wallet development technology is actually based on blockchain browser development technology. These makes it possible for your DAPP to have a nice interface and good user experience. A light wallet rather than a smart contract should be the first thing a DAPP developer does. It’s hard to convince users to test your DAPP without a light wallet, even they are your close friends, you probably can’t find more than three volunteers, and the chance of the three volunteers using your DAPP properly is less than one thousandth.
Light wallet technology is composed of 4 layers. In fact, light wallet is built on the f blockchain browser, so this is also the blockchain browser’s four layers.
1. Own node NEO-CLI
2. Own block scanner or crawler
3. Own query API
4. The corresponding wallet
Front-end technologies
Here refers to the broad front-end technology, including all the client presenting technology, web pages, pc, game client. Your DAPP always needs a user interface. In what kind of forms it presents is up to your business.
Operation and maintenance technologies
Light wallet technology determines that you should have your own network infrastructure such as nodes, crawlers, databases, and APIs. These network infrastructures require operation and maintenance, so you should have O & M technologies.
3. Peripheral applications
NEO peripheral applications refers to the development tools, blockchain browser, light wallet, exchange and so on. technology required in peripheral applications are overlapped with the first and second mentioned before, so there is no need to repeat them.
It is worth mentioning that you can’t have a profit model for many peripheral applications. If you want to develop such a tool, you can contact NEL. As long as it is meaningful to NEO ecosystem, we will support you in developing projects without profit models.
