Proof-of-stake blockchain protocol Algorand and blockchain software firm Blockstack have launched a joint open-source project to support the development of a smart contract language dubbed “Clarity” that promises reliable smart contracts.
Both the parties claims that the existing smart contract languages are neither secure nor predictable enough to meet the growing needs of the emerging industry.
#Algorand teams up with @blockstack for ‘Clarity’, an independent open-source project to support a first-of-its-kind smart contract language. A collaboration on design & development for safer, more secure, predictable and reliable smart contract languages https://t.co/NmeGFOWutT — Algorand Foundation (@AlgoFoundation) June 10, 2020
On June 10, Algorand and Blockstack announced on the need for an alternative smart contract language that would be:
“Purpose-built for the needs of developers working on high-stakes transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars, which require more predictability and reliability than current solutions.”
Both the blockchain blockchain network teams have strong connections with computer science and academic research in cryptography:
Algorand’s founder is the MIT professor
Cryptographer Silvio Micali is a recipient of the Turing Award in computer science and Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science
Blockstack team is led by:
Dr. Muneeb Ali who holds a Ph.D in computer science from Princeton University
Dr. Ali explained that smart contracts have “radically different requirements” particularly when it comes to verifiability and security.
Before the DeFi space grows further, he has called for a “serious upgrade” to smart contract language development to ensure that secure and effective code is supporting the most popular applications of the technology.
Clarity outlines in its statement that it is a:
“‘decidable’ language, meaning developers can know, with mathematical certainty, what a program will and will not do ahead of time.”
Algorand and Blockctack claim that at present, the use of “undecidable” languages renders it impossible for developers to understand exactly how a contract will behave in certain situations without its prior execution.
They claim therefore that it “addresses a key obstacle currently preventing large-scale, serious use.”
Dr. Micali points out that with the adoption of a programming language like Clarity it has the likelihood that the technology will be more trusted by large-scale enterprises and governments.
Algorand and Blockstack are also pledging to work toward better interchain communication and operability, in order to prevent the consolidation of “walled gardens” in the blockchain space.
Source: Cointelegraph| Image: Unsplash