Overview
ETHEREUM DEVELOPMENT
DOCUMENTATION
Last edit: @wackerow ↗ , August 16, 2022
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This documentation is designed to help you build with Ethereum. It covers
Ethereum as a concept, explains the Ethereum tech stack, and documents
advanced topics for more complex applications and use cases.
This is an open-source community effort, so feel free to suggest new
topics, add new content, and provide examples wherever you think it might
be helpful. All documentation can be edited via GitHub – if you're unsure
how, follow these instructions ↗ .
DEVELOPMENT MODULES
If this is your first attempt at Ethereum development, we recommend
starting at the beginning and working your way through like a book.
Foundational topics
Intro to Ethereum – A quick overview of Ethereum
Intro to Ether – A quick overview of Ether
Intro to dapps – An introduction to decentralized applications
Web2 vs Web3 – The fundamental differences that blockchain-based
applications provide
Accounts – Entities in the network that can hold a balance and send
transactions
Transactions – Transfers and other actions that cause Ethereum's state
to change
Blocks – The way transactions are batched to ensure state is
synchronised across all actors
Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) – The EVM handles all the computation
on the Ethereum network
Opcodes
Gas – Computational power required to process transactions, paid for in
ETH by transaction senders
Nodes and clients – The individuals participating in the network and the
software they run to verify transactions
Run a node
Client diversity
Nodes as a service
Node architecture
Light clients
Archive nodes
Bootnodes
Networks – Implementations of Ethereum including test networks
Consensus mechanisms – How the individual nodes of a distributed
network agree on the current state of the system
Proof-of-work
Proof-of-stake
Ethereum stack
Intro to the stack – An overview of the Ethereum/web3 stack
Smart contracts – Programs that reside at an Ethereum address and run
functions when triggered by transactions
Smart contract languages
Smart contract anatomy
Smart contracts libraries
Testing smart contracts
Compiling smart contracts
Deploying smart contracts
Verifying smart contracts
Upgrading smart contracts
Smart contract security
Smart contract formal verification
Composability
Development networks – Local blockchain environments used to test
dapps before deployment
Development frameworks – Tools that make developing with Ethereum
easier
Ethereum client APIs – Convenience libraries that allow your web app to
interact with Ethereum and smart contracts
JavaScript APIs
Backend APIs
JSON-RPC
Data and analytics – How blockchain data is aggregated, organized and
implemented into dapps
Block explorers
Storage – Decentralized storage structures and mechanism
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) – The best environments
to write dapp code
Programming languages – How to get started with Ethereum using
languages you may already know
Dart
Delphi
.NET
Golang
Java
JavaScript
Python
Ruby
Rust
Advanced
Bridges – An overview of bridging for developers
Standards – Agreed upon protocols for maintaining efficiency and
accessibility of projects to the community
Token standards
Maximal extractable value (MEV) – How value is extracted from the
Ethereum blockchain beyond the block reward
Oracles – How information is injected into the Ethereum blockchain
Scaling – Methods for preserving decentralization and security as
Ethereum grows
Optimistic rollups
Zero-knowledge rollups
State channels
Sidechains
Plasma
Validium
Data availability – docs-nav-data-availability-description
Networking layer – Explanation of Ethereum's networking layer
Network addresses
Data structures and encoding – Explanation of the data structures and
encoding schema used across the Ethereum stack
Patricia Merkle Trie
Recursive-length prefix (RLP)
Simple serialize (SSZ)
Web3 secret storage definition
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Intro to Ethereum
Website last updated: June 2, 2023
Use Ethereum Learn Developers
Find wallet Learn Hub Get started
Get ETH What is Ethereum? Documentation
Decentralized applications What is ether (ETH)? Tutorials
(dapps)
Ethereum wallets Learn by coding
Layer 2
Ethereum security and scam Set up local environment
Run a node prevention
Stablecoins What is Web3?
Stake ETH Smart contracts
Ethereum energy consumption
Ethereum roadmap
Ethereum Improvement
Proposals
History of Ethereum
Ethereum Whitepaper
Ethereum Whitepaper
Ethereum glossary
Ethereum governance
Blockchain bridges
Zero-knowledge proofs
Ecosystem Enterprise About ethereum.org
Community hub Mainnet Ethereum About us
Ethereum Foundation Private Ethereum Jobs
Ethereum Foundation Blog ↗ Enterprise Contributing
Ecosystem Support Program ↗ Language support
Ethereum bug bounty program Privacy policy
Ecosystem Grant Programs Terms of use
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