A Model-Driven Approach to the Smart Contract Development
Although it seems so effective and speedy, the working smart contract is the result of hard work and complicated procedures. A blockchain expert, Mihail Sotnichek, even claimed that the smart contract development project was just as hard as building an aircraft control system.
When it comes to the smart contract, there are a lot of slits and pitfalls which the developers can simply miss. That’s why it is highly important to work with the right people for your upcoming smart contract development.
You must understand the smart contract principles and foundations first before proceeding. A smart contract is basically a program that can be executed automatically when the predefined conditions have been met.
With the tons of successful stories about the smart contracts, more and more industries have set their plan to adopt the smart contract to their system. They can use the smart contract to streamline their overall operation, which in turn will boost their productivity and sales.
If smart contracts are on your business agenda, you should look into this model-driven approach to smart contract development.
Defining the problem and setting goals
Keep in mind that each industry has its own characteristics. You will have different problems and goals that you want to achieve in your business.
You will want to determine what your business needs and requires from the smart contract solution. Therefore, it is crucial to define the business logic. All of the important parties in your business must work together to discuss the conditions of the smart contract and communicate the projects with the developer.
Designing
The notion of a smart contract is very important. In this phase, you and the other involved parties will be creating the set of rules that are an integral part of the contract agreed upon by all parties.
The contracts can inform the rules of the trade between the different parties who are using the same contracts. The legal framework is important because it helps build the legal binding between the different parties. Without it, the smart contracts won’t even work after being deployed by the developers.
Each party must understand the logic which is implemented in the particular smart contracts.
The business rules of the smart contract must be according to the given regulation in the area and will automate the actions which are triggered by the particular actions under the specific conditions.
The blockchain has the characteristics to activate new apps and business models, removing many errors and pitfalls in value exchange. The business rules approach can provide a lot of effectivity to companies. Therefore, designing the smart contract should be loyal to the main vision and culture of your company.
Step 3- Choosing the Consensus Algorithm
The consensus algorithm is the key to achieving the same-shared ledger in real time. These ledgers are found in millions of devices across the globe. There is no centralized authority that verifies the new transactions. In this case, the miners, network managers, and project owners will need to decide for themselves about the transactions that are added to the particular blockchain.
The miners must also agree on the real practices for verifying the transactions.
The consensus mechanism is a protocol which is obligatory to be followed by all of the network members in the decentralized network. In this case, your project consensus mechanism will be much more unique than the other project’s consensus mechanism.
It is important to pick the right consensus mechanism so that it can be aligned with your project’s vision. There are some popular consensus mechanisms that can be applied to the private network, such as Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Casper, as well as dBFT-delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance. You might want to take a look at each of them or consult them with your top-rated software engineering company before deciding to choose one.
Step 4- Selecting the Platform
The next thing to consider is selecting the right platform. When you have a project in mind, it is critical to look at the best smart contract platforms and how they allow you to conduct and execute the project.
Here are some of the popular platforms to check out.
Ethereum
It was established back in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin and other four co-founders. Ethereum is a proof of work blockchain network which hosts EVM – Ethereum Virtual Machine or Turing-complete system. Ethereum is a gem for the DeFi apps and similar projects.
Polkadot
The Polkadot is the creation of Ethereum’s co-founder, Gavin Wood. The ex-CTO decided to create the blockchain network as he expected after realizing that ETH wouldn’t meet his expectations. Polkadot is a strong blockchain network that is backed by the Web3 foundation. It is often slated as an ETH killer.
Other smart contract platforms
There are dozens of platforms from which you can choose. Besides the two mentioned above, you could also check on these different platforms: Solana, EOS, Binance Smart Chain, COSMOS, etc.
Each platform has its own pros and cons. You’d want to take spare time to research on your own. Or, you could consult with your trustworthy software company to give a great idea.
Step 5-Designing the UI and Admin Console
In this step, the developers will help you design the user interface and the admin console. From the front-end to the back-end, all will be designed. It also involves the writing of the smart contract code for the blockchain platform of choice.
Step 6- Testing and Deploying the wallet
The unit testing will be done before the deployment of the wallet. It is important to test, re-test, and run the tests to make sure that there are no slits of errors or bugs in the system.
Researchers have proclaimed that around 40,000 smart contracts have some slits open for hackers or cyber attacks. Testing is an integral part of the development cycle before fully deploying your solution.
Whether you have decided whether your business is ready for the smart contract or not, make sure you keep up to date with this technology information to avoid any mishaps.