Coinbase takes you deep into the Web3 developer stack
Original title: "A simple guide to the web3 developer stack"
Original author: Jonathan King, Connor Dempsey, & Hoolie Tejwani
Original compilation: Hu Tao, chain catcher
Although Bitcoin and With the rise of Ethereum, and the emergence of new categories such as DeFi, NFT, GameFi, and DAO, web3 developers account for less than 1% of the 31.1 million software developers worldwide.
So why are there so few web3 developers today? On the one hand, the tools and infrastructure available to web3 developers are far less robust than web2. This just makes it harder to start building, experimenting and deploying in web3. However, this is all changing rapidly, as the number of monthly active web3 developers hit an all-time high in late 2021. To support this growing contingency, a vibrant ecosystem of teams working to simplify the entire web3 developer journey will ultimately help unlock the next phase of web3 growth and innovation.
In this episode of Around The Block we explore the growing web3 developer stack .
Web3 Developer Stack
Building in Web2 and Web3
Software development is the process of building computer programs. A given program consists of three main components:
1. Front end (the content that the user interacts with )
2. Backend (where the user cannot see)
3. Database (where key data is stored)
The front end where a typical user interacts via a mobile or desktop browser is basically the same in web2 and web3. A web3 application like Uniswap looks similar to a typical web2 application, as both front ends are mostly created using React - a popular framework for web and mobile application developers.
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This is the difference between web2 and web3. The backend frameworks and database types that make web3's defining feature (user-defined ownership) possible are new and unique.
web2 applications rely heavily on a centralized database, while web3 applications Built on top of a decentralized database (blockchain). This requires a whole new backend and new primitives like wallets.
Tools to help create, deploy and maintain web2 applications thanks to decades of cumulative development Very developer friendly. Out-of-the-box solutions, mature infrastructure, shared codebase, and easy-to-use frameworks go a long way toward making building in web2 a breeze.
On the other hand, Web3 still requires expertise to interface with complex infrastructure, and Often many redundant processes are involved as the stack is less developed, forcing the team to reinvent the wheel. That said, the tools that will help the next 1M+ web3 developers onboard are improving rapidly.
Let's take a layer-by-layer (non-exhaustive) look at the evolving Web3 developer stack ( *Denotes Coinbase Ventures portfolio company).
Protocol Layer
The first decision a web3 developer has to make is which blockchain protocol to base on . Building on Bitcoin is completely different than building on Ethereum, and building on Solana is not the same as building on Ethereum.
For faster and less costly applications, developers may wish to build on Optimism*, Arbitrum* . For applications that need to transfer value from one chain to another, developers will want to leverage the Hop* or Synapse* and other cross-chain bridges.
Once these decisions have been made, the developer can begin to put together the building blocks that allow the user application program is possible.
Infrastructure Primitives
The next thing developers need to figure out The question is how their applications will ultimately interact with the underlying blockchain. This is where infrastructure primitives come into play.
Node Infrastructure - Nodes are applications and blocks Chain where the interaction "happens". They are the computers that read the state of the blockchain and write updates to it once the user interacts with the application. Coinbase Cloud, Infura* and Alchemy* and other node infrastructure providers allow developers to easily set up, manage or access blockchain nodes, saving developers a lot of time and resources .
Wallet and Key Management - Blockchain Wallet, Such as Coinbase Wallet, which allows users to manage the private keys needed to perform transactions in web3 applications. Wallets such as Web3Auth * or Pine Street Labs * and Key management providers enable developers to establish secure connections between blockchain wallets and user-facing applications.
Identity - like ENS * Protocols like this act as the user's identity within the application. Spruce * Provides frameworks and toolkits that developers can use to validate user credentials to authenticate operations on Ethereum.
For example, developers can use the Spruce ID toolkit to authorize users to log into dApps using their ENS accounts. Additionally, companies like Lit Protocol provide developer tools for granting access to content, software, and other data using their tokens or NFTs.
Decentralized Computing———Computing resources provide application execution The processing power that computing tasks depend on. Currently, most network computing is provided by centralized providers such as AWS. Decentralized computing is the shift to community-owned networks where computing resources are distributed in a low-cost, permissionless manner. Projects such as Akash Network and Aleph.im have emerged , providing high-performance peer-to-peer computing resources optimized for smart contracts and blockchain applications.
Decentralized storage - will be compatible with a given web3 application The cost of directly storing each piece of data related to the program on the blockchain node is very high. Instead of storing data on a centralized database, web3 developers can use IPFS, Arweave * and Ceramic Network *. For example, the web3 blogging site Mirror is built on Ethereum, but stores the actual blog content on Arweave.
Oracle - For a typical Ethereum application, The blockchain stores transaction history and "state" (balances, smart contracts, and other variables). However, it cannot locally store and interact with data from external sources — i.e. transaction histories or “real world” data from other blockchains, such as the weather in San Francisco. This is what prophecies like Chainlink or Flux * Where machines appear, connect blockchains to on-chain and off-chain data sources.
Interoperability - many different blockchains exist , but few have the ability to exchange value and utilize cross-chain information. Interoperability protocols such as LayerZero * and Astar Network * are Developers provide SDKs and APIs to build dApps that are portable and can communicate with different blockchains.
Developer Tools
On top of the infrastructure primitives that allow applications to interact with blockchain networks , is a tool that allows developers to interact with the above primitives.
Frameworks and IDEs— Developer frameworks created by other developers The code base composition makes development easier. Truffle, Moralis *, Tatum and ThirdWeb * allow developers to leverage existing code for smart contract applications program so they don't have to build everything from scratch. They also allow developers to test and deploy applications.
Foundry and HardHat combine a common source code editor with automation and debugging tools built into a single, easily accessible interface.
Low-code/No-code —— These platforms enable user-facing Apps can be designed/deployed quickly through a drag-and-drop interface. Companies like Settlemint provide developers with NFT smart contract templates to prevent web3 developers from having to reinvent wheel.
Indexing and Querying — Data indexers help people locate and Access specific data in the underlying database. In Web2, Google Search is the most popular data indexing service, which allows users to query data stored in online databases with sub-second response times. In Web3, decentralized indexing services are emerging to help dApp developers acquire, process, and query blockchain data. Graph Protocol *, Covalent * and < a href="https://coherent.sh/">Coherent * Both provide APIs for extracting and consuming data from decentralized data storage providers and EVM-compatible blockchains.
Testing, Simulation and Monitoring - Publishing in web3 applications It is important to test and simulate them beforehand. Companies like Tenderly * and Kurtosis * offer Various tools have been developed to simulate smart contracts and transactions, as well as tools to debug any problems. Blocknative * Provides dashboards and tools for monitoring transactions before they are committed to the chain.
Security and Auditing - Given the potential of smart contract utilization, These platforms allow developers to apply security and auditing best practices to their applications. OpenZeppelin *, Certik * and Certora * Both provide developers with various services, frameworks and monitoring tools to mitigate potential security risks and vulnerabilities.
Messaging - Web3 applications often involve sending Send various communications. For example, a crypto wallet may wish to push alerts to users about transaction confirmations. Companies like XMTP Labs * and EPNS are building secure messaging Delivery protocol and decentralized communication network to drive user engagement and power these notifications in Web3 applications.
Analysis - There are many platforms and services that allow developers Explore, analyze, extract and visualize blockchain data. Dune *, Nansen * and < a href="https://messari.io/">Messari * Both provide various APIs and reporting capabilities to build data visualizations in web3 applications. Flipside Crypto * Provides SDK (Software Development Kit) and API to create and share data insights on various crypto projects.
Application Support Layer
The application support layer ties all the above layers to a specific web3 usage. NFTs, DAOs, DeFi, and games all have their own custom developer solutions.
NFT-focused tools provide the infrastructure for creating and managing NFT assets. DAO tools created for DAO (Syndicate *, Samudai *) , governance (Snapshot *) and treasury management (Utopia Labs *) provide a solution. DeFi-focused tools provide APIs that give developers access to various DeFi primitives. Game-focused tools (Venly *, Joyride *, Horizon Blockchain Games *) provide solutions for creating virtual worlds and blockchain-based games.
Evolving Development Stack
The protocols, infrastructure, and developer tools mentioned above make up the nascent, but growing web3 developer stack. The modularity and interoperability of web3 means that stacks can be combined in endless ways to create new and interesting applications.
While our emphasis on frameworks and layers may remain the same, we continue to see new Developer tooling primitives emerge, and the entire stack is expected to change dramatically over the next few years.
Coinbase Ventures will continue to invest in next-generation platforms and developer tools, ultimately bringing in millions Developers bring in web3. If you're as committed to building a web3 development stack as we are, we'd love to hear from you.
Related reading: "Coinbase takes you to understand the Web3 stack from the bottom up"
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