• The Aiken programming language makes it extremely easy for developers to set up smart contract development on the Cardano blockchain.
• Aiken’s easy-to-lean programming language makes it easy for developers to get started with new projects on the Cardano blockchain.

The Cardano Foundation has been pushing hard and working on the effective functioning of smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain network. A novel and accessible programming language Aiken is working to enhance the development of smart contracts on Cardano.

The Aiken language comes with state-of-the-art features offering an effortless integration with other tools that meet the expectations of developers. Also, Aiken seeks to foster the growth of the Cardano ecosystem by providing smart contract development along with an optimized developer experience.

Plugging the gaps of the current Cardano Smart Contracts ecosystem

As we know, the Haskell Plutus platform is one of the only fully developed smart contract languages on the Cardano network. However, setting up a working Haskell environment is certainly challenging for developers as it involves ad-hoc compiler plugins such as PlutusTx.

Furthermore, accessories such as language serves do not usually work with the default installation settings and thus are cumbersome to configure. Also, as the Plutus platform is tied to Haskell’s existing language, it adds different built-in libraries, program semantics, and ecosystems that will differ from standard Haskell, which often leads to confusing situations.

Additionally, Plutus also discourages the use of other languages for off-chain code, thereby preventing teams from working with their usual tools and languages. The good thing about Cardano’s architecture and smart contracts virtual machine allows for third-party tooling as well as new languages to be created atop it. Here’s exactly where Aiken comes into the picture.

Understanding Aiken and its operations

Aiken will be introducing a new easy-to-learn programming language to bring a smooth smart contract development experience to developers. Since Aiken is purpose-built for the Cardano network, it will include domain-specific conveniences making the development process a lot more easier and efficient. Some of the benefits of using the Aiken programming language are:

1. Automatic code formatting
2. A language server with editor integrations
3. Helpful and quick compiler feedback
4. Documentation generated from code comments
5. A testing plus benchmarking framework
6. An interoperable and portable binary specification format (CIP-0057).

The Aiken language seeks to reduce the time it takes for developers to get started as well as finish their projects. Aiken converts the multi-day setup experience into just a 10-minute quickstart without compromising on security and other quality aspects.

With Aiken, the compiler can take the code written in the Aiken programming language, performs a variety of checks on it, and then outputs Untyped Plutus Core programs that can be used on the Cardano blockchain.

Related: Cardano: Million TPS with Hydra and Interoperability solutions IOG and Wanchain will lead ADA to #1 in blockchain space

Furthermore, Aiken also provides a toolkit for working with the Cardano smart contracts along with low-level Untyped Plutus Core. It provides an approachable way to compile on-chain code into a higher-level representation. It can also evaluate scripts in the context of a transaction or reports execution costs.

The Aiken project started with the initial support from TxPipe having shared goals and a common philosophy. In less than a year, Aiken is now ready for the alpha release. Santiago Carmuega of TxPipe said:

With the immense support provided by the Cardano Foundation, I’m confident that Aiken will have a profound impact on our ecosystem, fostering innovation and empowering developers.

Recommended for you:

• Buy Cardano Guide
• Cardano Wallet Tutorial
• Check 24-hour Cardano Price
• More Cardano News
• What is Cardano?