Introduction to Web3 development. This write-up is here to help you grasp the base understanding of building in Web3. You might need this as your go-to as your prep for a hackathon to find developer libraries, tutorials, and faucets. Essentially, this is a comprehensive guide to Web3 development with many resources.
As a motivated individual dipping your toes into Web3 development, you are about to start an inspiring journey! As always, you will do some coding but a lot of figuring out why something works and does not. Terminal might look like a blackhole tab, but there’s no reason for you to worry about it. You can paste magic commands into it, and it will do what you want…eventually. Getting comfortable knowing that coding can be a trick in some ways can help you get the confidence you need to get over your terminal anxiety. It did for me.
If you are in a stage where looking at the Terminal tab gives you anxiety, watch these videos and play around to get a feeling of what this magic black tab can do:
- 50 macOS Tips and Tricks Using Terminal (the last one is CRAZY!)
- How to use the Command Line | Terminal Basics for Beginners
The easiest way to start building a project in web3 is to play around SDKs and APIs.
There are a few basic libraries that you need regardless of what APIs/SDKs or libraries you will play around with! Considering you have never used these libraries before, nor have you ever played around coding environments before. Start with Yarn and Node.js.
Install yarn via command:
npm install — global yarn - Download Yarn here
SDKs and APIs
SDKs are a fun “LEGO” in Web3 development! They work closely with APIs, and there are so many of them out there. They come in all shapes and sizes with it’s own unique utilities. You can use them to connect to nodes, send transactions, mint NFTs, set up wallets…Essentially, APIs facilitate communication between the front-end and back-end of your application. They are being used all across development — Web2 and Web3. APIs facilitate the entire process of analyzing and presenting information readably to ensure that the involved pieces of software can communicate successfully. They help you maintain your project’s infrastructure, and you can easily plug them into your contracts. They do the job on your behalf. SDKs help you build the actual applications as they have a broader scope, and they usually include more tools and resources.
You can find SDKs and APIs in nearly any project documentation, thanks to DevRel team members and dev teams out there! You will likely find there the initial command, which you modify with your attributes such as wallet address and API key. In most cases, you will create an account via Dashboard, which gives you an API Key that you will use in your command. The API Key is similar to your house key — it gives you access to data. You run the command via the Terminal window, and some magic happens! APIs are super simple to use, and I highly recommend every web3 developer to play around with APIs!
The best place to start
There are a few places where to start your “I want to play around web3 but no idea where to begin”. A shout-out to Cookbook, which is a great place to start when building your first web3 project. It’s like a library full of APIs and SDKs, contracts, libraries…! Other than that, you will need a bit more luck, AKA the right resources
I highly encourage you to check out the following resources. These are great tutorials and amazing developers to follow on your learning journey!
- 👨🏫 Introduction to Ethereum development from Austin Griffith and Scaffold ETH
- ETH.BUILD tutorials from Austin Griffith and eth.build tool
- 👩💻 Web2 to Web3 🚀 — Week 2, Day 1: Scripting and Smart Contracts! Providers, Signers, and Wallets from Austin Griffith
- The Complete Guide to Full Stack Web3 Development from Nader Dabit
- Hello World! An Introduction to Solidity Smart Contracts from Paul McAviney
- Blockchain Developer | How to learn everything you need to become one from Patrick Collins
Libraries that you should consider playing around with:
Along the way of your building in web3, you might consider using ChatGPT/ Gemini (or both), which might be helpful in aggregating resources and answering questions. I did use them both, but I did not find these tools to be the most helpful. I did talk to a bunch of friends who are using AI daily to help them debug. I tried to debug my errors with both of these tools but they were not helpful. Take AI outputs with a grain of salt!
Here are tools that you might find helpful and a few notes that I put down when I tried to play around with some APIs:
I created a huge GitHub repo with many helpful links where you can find much more to help you start your Web3 development career and turn your ideas into reality. Such as token faucets, Developer learning portals, Interesting reads to understand the crypto space better, and even Web3 Job boards.
There are several Web3 hackathons already planned for this year, where you can get more hands-on web3 developer experience, talk to mentors, make new connections, get a unique opportunity to present your project in front of industry leaders, and win bounties!
Happy Web3 development!
Thank you to Austin Griffith for constantly educating devs and answering my questions. Thank you so much to DappDan for web3 dev yoga and for reviewing this article before publishing.
