Overview of Smart Contract Languages

Smart contracts are automated execution protocols that run on blockchain platforms, enabling trustless transactions without intermediaries. They contain code functions that can interact with other contracts and execute automatically when predefined conditions are met.

The concept of smart contracts was proposed by Nick Szabo in the 1990s, but it wasn't until the emergence of Ethereum that it gained widespread application. Ethereum was launched in 2015 and supports the deployment and execution of smart contracts, being referred to as the second generation of blockchain.

Smart contract languages are used to write smart contracts, which are compiled into bytecode and executed on the virtual machine of a blockchain platform. It needs to safely and efficiently express contract rules and provide tools for handling blockchain transactions and states.

Currently, smart contract development is mainly concentrated on Ethereum and EVM-compatible blockchains. Solana is the platform with the most developers in the non-EVM ecosystem, while Move is specifically designed for the secure development of smart contracts.

EVM-based smart contracts language

EVM is the core of Ethereum, responsible for running smart contracts and processing transactions. Ethereum adopts a multi-level hierarchical architecture, including bytecode, intermediate language, and high-level language.

The most popular EVM high-level languages currently are Solidity and Vyper, in addition to options like Yul, Yul+, Fe, and Huff.

Solidity is an object-oriented language influenced by C++, Python, and JavaScript. It supports multiple inheritance and defines the ABI standard.

Vyper is developed by Vitalik Buterin's team, with a syntax similar to Python, focusing on security and Gas efficiency. It does not support object-oriented programming or inline assembly.

Yul is an assembly language with advanced control flow that can be used through inline assembly blocks in Solidity. Yul+ is an extended version of Yul.

Fe is a high-level language similar to Rust, using a module-based system to reuse code.

Huff is an assembly language that allows for manual stack manipulation and calling EVM instructions, primarily used for gas limit optimization.

On Ethereum, about 90% of smart contracts are developed using Solidity, followed by Vyper. Yul/Yul+ and Huff are mainly used for gas optimization.

Solana smart contracts language

Solana is renowned for its PoH mechanism and high performance, making it one of the fastest-growing public chains by market capitalization. Solana refers to smart contracts as on-chain programs, primarily written in Rust.

Solana uses its own SVM virtual machine and SBF bytecode instead of WASM. The key component of SVM, Sealevel, supports parallel processing of multiple smart contracts.

SBF is based on eBPF, featuring high performance and security. Solana has made customized modifications to the Rust and eBPF LLVM backend.

Currently, Solana contract development mainly supports two languages: Rust and Solang. Rust is a high-performance safe language developed by Mozilla. Solang is an LLVM-based Solidity compiler that supports Solana and Polkadot.

Move smart contracts language

Move was originally developed for Meta's Diem project and is now primarily used in the Aptos and Sui public chains. The main features of Move include:

1. First-class resource type protection
2. High flexibility, supports calling multiple programs in a single transaction.
3. High security, supports static verification

Move adopts a modular design, with each smart contract being a module. Sui Move uses an object-based data model built on Core Move.

The compiler, verifier, and virtual machine of Move are all designed from scratch. The verifier is the core security mechanism of Move, used to maintain a resource-centric programming model.

Move also provides a formal verification tool for smart contracts called Move Prover, which can perform rigorous mathematical proofs on contracts.

smart contracts development tools

For EVM-compatible chains, Solidity is the best choice, its mature development tools include:

• Hardhat: compilation, deployment, testing, and debugging environment
• OpenZeppelin: provides a secure smart contracts standard library
• Foundry: A development framework centered around Solidity

The main development framework of Solana is Anchor, similar to Hardhat, which can simplify the Solana development process.

The Move language has innovations in underlying security, but the ecosystem is still in its early stages, and development tools need to be improved.

Summary

The evaluation of smart contract languages typically considers usability, security, and ecological resources.

Solidity has the greatest impact, with a wealth of development tools and libraries, facilitating rapid development.

Rust makes up for the security shortcomings of Solidity, and the Solana ecosystem is developing rapidly.

Move has innovations in security mechanisms, has a low learning curve, but the ecosystem is still in its early stages.