So, you want to become a blockchain developer? Technically, a blockchain is a software that is designed to store, protect, and manage data. Blockchain runs on a peer-to-peer network and decision making on digital transactions is done by using a consensus.
There are hundreds of blockchain products in the market available today. Some blockchains are public (permissionless), some blockchains are semi-public (public permissioned), and some blockchains are private. As a software developer, you can also create your own blockchain. However, the task of creating your own blockchain is difficult.
The most popular public blockchain, Bitcoin, is written in C++. Ethereum blockchain, which is open source, is written in Go, C++, and Rust, but the Solidity programming language is used to develop Ethereum smart contracts. So, if you want to become a contributor to the Ethereum blockchain, you will need to code in Go, C++, or Rust, depending on the module you work on. But if you want to use Ethereum blockchain to store your smart contracts, you will need to write smart contracts in Solidity.
C++, Java, Go, Java, Python, JavaScript, and C# are some of the most popular programming languages for blockchain development.
The following table lists some of the projects and their programming language support. As a blockchain developer, you do not care what a blockchain is written in but you want to look at what language a blockchain supports so you can implement blockchain in your projects.
|
BLOCKCHAIN |
Written In |
Development Language |
Consensus |
|
ARK |
JavaScript
|
JavaScript, Go, Python, C#, TypeScript, Kotlin, Ruby, Swift, PHP
|
DPoS
|
|
CORDA |
Kotlin
|
Java, Kotlin,
|
|
|
ETHEREUM |
Go, C++, Rust
|
Solidity
|
PoW/PoS
|
|
EOS |
C++
|
WebAssembly, C, C++
|
DPoS
|
|
HYPERLEDGER FABRIC |
Go, Java, JavaScript, Python
|
Go, Java, Kotlin
|
|
|
LISK |
JavaScript, Node.js
|
JavaScript
|
DPoS
|
|
NEO |
C#
|
C#, Java, Kotlin, Python
|
PoS
|
|
QTUM |
C++, Python, TypeScript
|
C++, Python, Rust, Go, Lua
|
PoS
|
|
STRATIS |
C++, C#
|
C#
|
PoS, PoW
|
|
WAVES |
Scala
|
Scala
|
DPoS
|
The selection of a blockchain for your project depends on your needs. For example, if you want to support Smart Contracts in your application, you can choose any blockchain that provides Smart Contracts functionality. However, if your company uses .NET stack, you may look at blockchains that support C# language. If your company is a Java stack, you may want to look at a blockchain that supports Smart Contracts in Java.
Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchains for smart contracts. Ethereum only supports a new programming language, Solidity, to write smart contracts.
If your goal is to have a private blockchain, Corda, which supports Kotlin and Java programming languages, may be your choice to write smart contracts.
So, what is the most popular language?
Keep in mind, blockchain is still a new space and tons of work is still going on. Aside from Solidity, which is used for Ethereum smart contracts, C++ and Java seem to be the most popular blockchain programming languages. Python is also getting popular as more and more blockchains plan to support Python.
You can check out job listings on various portals to understand the kind of developers in-demand for blockchain development. San Francisco and New York are the two top cities followed by Chicago, LA, and Boston that are hiring blockchain developers.