The fuss about web3 that stirred up in its initial days has quickly turned into how valuable the tech is for everyone. Be it NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, or other technology that falls under the web3 umbrella, the third generation of the internet has experienced immense growth as a whole and will continue to transcend beyond that. The rise of web3 also opened a myriad of working opportunities for everyone, especially for developers as blockchain development is one of the fastest-growing sectors. However, things get a little daunting when you’re just starting out in web3, considering the space is still in its infancy and discovering authentic resources online is not a breeze.
But fret not! If you’re an aspiring web3 developer and in search of tools that can make your life easy, this guide is just for you. Stick with us till the end as we’re getting started.
Top 10 Tools You Must Know as a Web3 Developer
As a web3 developer, there are certain tools that you must know like programming languages, frameworks, testnets, wallets, etc., as these act as a base and you may need them from time to time. Let’s uncover all such and other necessary tools in the guide below.
Solidity - Programming Language
Developed by Ethereum, Solidity is a high-end popular coding language that allows the development of smart contracts on various blockchain networks like Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, and more. It was proposed by the CTO of Ethereum, Gavin Wood, and was inspired by popular programming languages like C, C++, JavaScript, and Python. As a web3 developer, you can reinforce your portfolio by learning Solidity as smart contracts are already popular in the industry and a huge percentage of them are running on the Ethereum blockchain.
Let’s have a look at its other offerings:
Like other programming languages, it also has functions, classes, variables, etc., to code the smart contract.
Solidity is capable of forming machine-level code and compiling it on EVM or Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Crowdfunding, blind auction, mortgages, voting are a few smart contract use cases.
Solidity alternates such as Vyper and Rust also make a good choice. Note that Rust is not an EVM-compatible language but it still supports new chains like NEAR, Polkadot, Solana, and more.
Revise - Dynamic NFT Platform
Dynamic NFTs are the next frontier of static NFTs. They can do much more than what standard NFTs are capable of and there’s no doubt that the next wave of NFTs will be dynamic. But do you wonder how to build such an NFT that has dynamic elements? Or how the process looks like? Well, it’s super fast, simple, and secure with Revise as we empower developers with a powerful back-end, a high-end SDK (Software Development Kit), and third-party integrations like Google Health and Ether Price for a better experience while creating them.
A few of their offerings are as follows:
- Works across Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains
- Library of Integrations
- Works with any storage layer
- Benchmarked at 20,000 TPS
Moreover, Revise also offers a free simulator that allows changing the properties, images, and automating your NFTs with ease. Try it for free now.
Truffle - Software Framework
Building a dApp is not a cakewalk, especially when you’re handling everything on your own. But, luckily, there are software frameworks like Truffle that can easily create, test, and deploy smart contracts. Truffle is a JavaScript-based framework and comes with built-in smart contracts functionalities and other resources like libraries and tools to create dApps seamlessly. Smart contract management, interactive console, network management, automated contract testing are among a few of its attributes that eases the entire development process. It also offers a dApp development ecosystem called Truffle Suite that comes with three parts:
- Truffle- The development environment that eases the dApp creation process
- Ganache- Testnet for testing your dApps/smart contracts first before making them live on mainnet
- Drizzle- A set of frontend libraries
Let’s have a look at its other features:
- Automated contract testing support
- Allows direct contract communication with its interactive console
- Allows to deploy contracts on a host of public and private networks
You can also check Hardhat and Embark development frameworks as they are good alternatives to Truffle.
Web3.js - Ethereum JavaScript API
Web3.js is an Ethereum JavaScript library that allows developers to interact with the Ethereum blockchain (both local and remote). It uses IPC, HTTP, or WebSocket for a smooth connection and allows users to call functions on smart contracts, sends ETH to different users, and gives access to smart contracts. A few of the most used functions that make it possible to interact with the Ethereum blockchain are:
- Web3-eth: For Ethereum smart contracts and ecosystem
- Web3-bzz: Used for decentralized file storage
- Web3-shh: For the communication of p2p and broadcast
- Web3-utils: Provides a collection of dApps functions
MetaMask - Web3 Wallet
MetaMask is one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets in the market. It can be used as a browser extension or a mobile application to store digital assets. It allows a secure way to protect your virtual assets with the use of private keys that should be exclusive to the owners only to avoid scams. Developers can use MetaMask to access Ethereum-based dApps, however, it isn’t only limited to that. MetaMask also acts as a gateway to several layer-2 blockchain ecosystems such as Polygon.
Other than that, let’s see what else it has to offer
- Allows running dApps on the local host
- Makes it easy to sign transactions, identity management, read blockchain data, keys management, and access multiple accounts on different networks
- Developers can also use a test blockchain network such as Ganache
In case you want to explore more crypto wallets with different functionalities, you can choose from a bunch of options such as Coinbase wallet, Trust wallet, Ambire wallet, MyEtherWallet, and more.
Remix IDE - Integrated Development Environment
Remix is one of the most trusted IDEs among web3 developers that aids with the application development process. It provides an intuitive user interface that eases the process of compiling, testing, and debugging smart contracts. Written in JavaScript, Remix can be accessed both ways— as a browser extension or a desktop application. It is packed with a host of plugins, libraries, and other functionalities that boosts smart contract development. Let’s explore some of its other qualities:
- Requires no setup to get started
- Offers a Remix plugins engine and Remix Libraries that are a part of its Remix Project
Alchemy NFT API - Application Programming Interface
NFTs are insanely popular among everyone out there and Alchemy’s NFT API lets you build one without any hassle. They launched a multi-chain API that is capable of verifying, creating, displaying, and trading NFTs easily. It works across Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum to name a few, and abstracts away the need to go through the technical aspects of building an NFT.
Have a look at a few of its characteristics:
- Allows access to NFT sales data
- Can aid the process of building NFT drops, marketplaces, wallets, token-gating experiences, and much more
- It has 4 times better spam detection and allows to filter spam and airdropped NFTs
Besides Alchemy’s NFT API, you can also check out Thirdweb SDK and Moralis API & SDK for a similar experience.
Ganache - Testnet
Testnets are alternative blockchain networks used for testing purposes that underlie the same blockchain technology as the main network (mainnet). As a web3 developer, you must already know that smart contracts are immutable and cannot be modified once deployed on the blockchain. Hence, to address this, testnets are used before deploying the contracts on mainnet, mainly to find any flaws and see whether the contract works the right way. Ganache is the tool that works exactly the same. It has a user-friendly interface and acts as a local blockchain for Ethereum development. Developers can access blockchain data, debug information, and also configure block time as per their development needs.
A few of Ganache’s features include:
- Offers a desktop app and a command-line tool as well
- Comes with advanced mining attributes
- Shows blockchain log output
- In-built block explorer
Chainlink - Oracle
Smart contracts are undoubtedly an innovative tech that has many use cases. However, its capabilities are still limited to accessing info present on the blockchain only. In other words, it cannot extract data from the outside world (off-chain) and put it to use. And that’s when Oracles come into the game. Oracles gather information from external sources and relay it to the smart contracts on the blockchain. One such popular decentralized oracle is Chainlink. With Chainlink, users can easily feed smart contracts with off-chain data such as live soccer scores, weather updates, etc., and ease the process of building dApps. The best part about this tool is that it allows automation, supports cross-blockchain interoperability, and provides verifiable sources of randomness.
Universal Market Access (UMA), Band Protocol, and Witnet are other decentralized tools that you can give a try.
Octopus - To Enhance Security
If there’s one thing that should not be overlooked while creating a dApp, then it’s the security aspect. Not to mention but 2022 saw some fatal hacks in the industry, which was enough for builders to emphasize the security of their applications first and not the gimmickry. Octopus is the one-stop solution that beefs up the security of your smart contract by running it through a detailed analysis. It comes with control flow analysis, symbolic execution, and call flow analysis that helps find contract errors and easily fix them.
TL;DR
Here are the ten tools we discovered in this blog:
- Solidity - Programming Language
- Revise - Dynamic NFT Platform
- Truffle - Software Framework
- Web3.js - Ethereum JavaScript API
- MetaMask - Web3 Wallet
- Remix IDE - Integrated Development Environment
- Alchemy NFT API - Application Programming Interface
- Ganache - Testnet
- Chainlink - Oracle
- Octopus - To Enhance Security
Closing Thoughts
Web3 is gradually running on the path of becoming more mainstream. The vast adoption of the next iteration of the internet will certainly bring in an influx of people together and a lot more job opportunities for everyone. Hence, if you’re thinking to go web3 full-time, it’s high time that you should do that. Also, if you’ve just started out as a web3 developer and struggling to find tools/resources that could facilitate your work, then check out the tools we mentioned in our guide above.
Moreover, as dNFTs are being embraced by many prominent brands and personalities worldwide, it’s safe to say that they are going to be the next big thing in 2023 and beyond. If you’re seeking a way to build dNFTs with ease, check out our free simulator now that allows changing the properties, images, and automating your NFTs.
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