Overview
The Solana Blockchain is one of the most talked-about technologies in the world right now. The demand for blockchain platform apps is also growing by the day, and as a result, blockchain solutions like Solana are growing at an amazing rate.
The Solana team has created a formidable technological approach to DeFi and NFTs, attracting a large number of programmers to incorporate Solana into their projects. Solana is known for its efficient design, fast transaction speeds, and less crowded developer environment with thousands of projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, Web3, and more.
In this article, I'll walk you through some tools, resources, communities, books, courses, bootcamps, and job boards to aid your Solana development journey.
Why Build on Solana?
Solana is a public and open-source programmable blockchain launched in 2017. It is one of the fastest blockchains available, with speeds of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS) in contrast to Ethereum's 15 transactions per second. Solana's ability to reach such speed is due to its hybrid consensus mechanism called the Proof of History( PoH), allowing for parallel transactions on Solana.
Solana is also known to have low transaction speeds, with an average of about $0.00025 per transaction, which is especially perfect for users and developers on a tighter budget. By leveraging Solana smart contracts, developers can create fast and scalable DeFi applications.
Tools
The vast majority of Solana programs are written in Rust. Rust is an open-source, high-performance, statically typed, and memory-efficient programming language. It enables developers to "write faster and more reliable software" while easily controlling low-level details such as memory.
Anchor is a framework for developing secure Solana applications. It abstracts away from the low level account construction, the packing and unpacking, and the altering of the Solana program's interfaces.
Arweave is a decentralized, cryptographically validated permanent archive based on a cryptocurrency that seeks to deliver practical data permanence for the first time. Arweave eliminates the requirement for Solana validators to run full nodes by giving instant access to past Solana data. I am a fan of Arweave as I store my data permanently in total privacy.
Metaplex is a Solana-powered protocol that enables the creation and minting of non-fungible tokens, as well as auctions and the visualisation of NFTs.
Alchemy's Supernode provides a fully developed suite of APIs for interacting with the blockchain and getting critical blockchain data.
Phantom is a wallet to store, buy, send, manage digital assets, and access decentralized applications on the Solana blockchain.
Resources
Communities
Joining a community is a good way of contributing to the ecosystem, collaborating with other builders, and asking for constructive feedback on your work. Here are some communities I recommend you join.
Articles
I recommend this article as it is the most comprehensive and helpful article for full-stack Anchor development. It covers anchor development, Solana programs, and also frontend integrations.
Books
- Rust book
- Rust Cookbook
- The Cargo Book
- A Gentle Introduction to Rust
Courses
- Intro to Solana by Buildspace
- Solana Blockchain Developer Foundation - Rust and Typescript
This paid Udemy course teaches you to Solana blockchain fundamentals, how to interact with code, Solana programs and also how to mint NFTs with Solana and Arweave.
- Solana development course
Videos
Rust Programming Course for Beginners by freeCodeCamp
Solana Official Channel
- Building Smart Contracts With Solana and Rust Lang
- Let's Get Rusty Playlist
- Rust Crash Course Tutorial for Solana
Valuable Repositories
Awesome Solana NFTs
Jet Lab
Synthentify
Bootcamps
Encode Solana Bootcamp - currently open (Apply here)
Metana- A 4-month online blockchain Bootcamp that will teach you the fundamentals of blockchain, Solana, Rust, DeFi, and smart contracts.
The Solana development Bootcamp by Chainlink - This Bootcamp is designed to help in mastering the fundamentals of Solana smart contract development.
Job boards
- Solana Ecosystem Jobs
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you enjoyed it! ♥️♥️❤️
I look forward to seeing how you take advantage of this evolving space to start your Solana development journey.
I would like to connect with you on Twitter and Linkedln.
Thanks for reading!