Blockchain Development with Tezos

Workshop Materials

Blockchain basics

This workshop is based around tools and products from Cryptonomic. We will be using Node.js, npm and Typescript to write the code that will interact with the Tezos blockchain. To do so, we’ll use the ConseilJS library — an open-source API and a package on npm. For information about ConseilJS beyond what’s covered here please refer to the full documentation.

To start, get a new test account from the Tezos faucet and include that information in the script. Then hit Nautilus Cloud — a turn-key Tezos infrastructure service and create an account with your github login. Rather than writing all the common interactions from scratch, let’s follow along the execution of the basic workflows.

In addition to these, the Mininax block explorer is useful to confirm operations, and Arronax — a blockchain data analytics tool will provide more insight into what we’re doing today.

Smart contracts with SmartPy

The native smart contract language on Tezos is Michelson, a strongly-typed, stack-based grammar that lends itself to formal verification. The language however represents a significant learning curve for most developers.

Several projects exist to make contract development easier and faster, among them SmartPy is a standout for its browser-based, fully integrated IDE which not only supports trustless deployment, but also provides a simulation framework. We have developed a multi-part curriculum that uses SmartPy to introduce smart contract development.