From Coinpedia · By PR Manager
Solana is one of the most efficient blockchains in the industry, having reached high-performance speeds at low transaction costs and being praised as an alternative to Ethereum. The Solana infrastructure can sustain thousands of transactions per second, attracting more investors to buy Solana and benefit from low transaction fees for micropayments and exposure to a thriving ecosystem.
Advertisement But besides the digital asset, the Solana blockchain has also proven its resilience and development with the help of those willing to learn Web3 technology. However, the learning curve is more difficult on Solana than Ethereum. While Ethereum runs on the Solidity language and has more mature tools, Solana works on Rust and is composed of complex architectures. Don’t be discouraged by this aspect, as allocating enough time and dedication to learning Solana development can take you far, so let’s see what this process entails.
Why is Solana difficult to learn as a beginner?
Starting to learn blockchain coding and development as someone with no previous experience seems like a stretch. Still, this technology is future-proof, and learning a skill that could secure you a career in this fast-changing world is a good idea. Usually, it could take between six months and one to two years to have comprehensive expertise in blockchain technology, and you will need to master programming concepts and cryptography concepts in the meantime. Of course, the timeline can change according to how much time you can allocate weekly for learning and experimenting.
Start with the basics of blockchain
You should build a stable foundation of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency as well, but you don’t have to stick to Solana at first. As a recommendation for the first phase, you could explore Bitcoin and its whitepaper as an introduction to crypto, since it’s an easier start than Solana. Then, use Solana’s Playground website as source material to understand its accounts, transaction technology, and how to build and deploy programs. After a thorough understanding of how Solana works, you could start learning Rust, as it’s the main programming language on the blockchain.
Don’t be demoralized when people say it could take years to master Rust. After all, the entire learning process can last for a while, so as time will pass anyway, focus on learning at a realistic pace. Start with the Rust Book and exercises in the first week, and continue with building real-world applications to learn from failed experiments. You can always get to advanced systems later when you’re confident in Rust fundamentals.
Getting to the Anchor development framework
Luckily for soon-to-be developers, the Anchor framework exists as a simplifier for writing code with Rust. Developers use it for smart contracts (called programs on Solana), which are the basis for automating instructions that make blockchain the efficient infrastructure it is. These programs can later run decentralized applications (dApps), which are so important for the future of technology.