JavaScript Devs, Get Ready To Build On NEAR

After the release of JavaScript Software Development Kits (JS SDKs) on Monday, 20 million JavaScript developers will be able to write blockchain smart contracts and build applications on the NEAR Protocol.

NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin told Cointelegraph at the Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) on August 9 (local time) that the move will broaden access to the niche field of blockchain development:

‍"There are approximately 20 million JavaScript developers worldwide." Likely, every developer has written JavaScript at some point in their career. And we allow you to create smart contracts in JavaScript."

"Before we had Solidity, we had Rust, which is what Solana and Near are primarily for Ethereum and other Layer 2s." As a result, Solidity is probably known by 100,000 developers, with even fewer actively using it. "It's even less likely in Rust," he added.

According to a Cointelegraph report from August 8, NEAR's JS SDK includes the "contract framework itself, JavaScript and TypeScript contract examples and tests."

Polosukhin went on to say that the JS SDKs could be used by anyone, from students just starting out in blockchain to business owners looking to speed up their projects.

‍"A student can create an app without having to learn new languages or skills." It will also be easier for entrepreneurs to hire [devs], allowing them to build stronger, faster teams and deliver products faster," he said, adding:

‍"So, Near's idea is to create a very extensible and powerful system that allows developers to create anything from simple apps to very complex apps."‍

When asked if the JS SDKs will be Ethereum Virtual Machine Compatible, Polosukhin stated that the offering will run specifically on Near but that it is possible to create EVM compatible smart contracts from the SDK, similar to how EVM compatible scaling Aurora was created on NEAR.

NEAR is a developer and user-friendly decentralized application (dApp) platform that was launched in April 2020. With a market cap of $4.1 billion, its native token NEAR is currently the twenty-fourth largest crypto asset.

According to CoinGecko, the asset is currently priced at $5.44 and has increased by 42.8 percent in the last 30 days.

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Source:
‍https://cointelegraph.com/news/20m-javascript-devs-can-now-build-applications-on-near-kbw-2022 

Author:
Brian Quarmby