Blockchain development has just become a whole lot easier for Web2 developers. NEAR is thrilled to unveil its much anticipated JavaScript Software Development Kit (JS SDK) at ETHToronto, the official hackathon of the Blockchain Futurist Conference, in a significant move to democratize Web3 development.

With NEAR’s JS SDK, more than 20 million developers that make JavaScript the world’s most popular coding language can finally join the internet revolution and quickly build fast, scalable, and user-friendly decentralized applications. Having that many more contributors in the space could bring about a fascinating renaissance to the open web.

Although Rust and Solidity are the most prominent programming languages for Layer 1 blockchains, there are fewer than 2.5 million developers worldwide who use these languages. So, opening up the doors nearly 10x is a major step towards mass adoption. JS runs in every browser, the basics can be taught in an afternoon, it requires no compiler setup, and it comes pre-loaded with useful libraries like RegExp, Math, and Array. The NEAR JS SDK brings this same capability and ease of use to developing smart contracts, unlocking the power of blockchain to a much, much wider audience. 

Commenting on the launch, Illia Polosukhin, Founder of NEAR, says: “Developers can spend less time learning a new language and more time building their application in a language they already know. Millions of developers already know how to program in JavaScript; enabling this group to build novel applications on NEAR is a critical step in achieving our vision of a billion users interacting with NEAR.”

Learn, build, and deploy in minutes

NEAR’s commitment to putting simplicity and usability first is reinforced by this release, making the learning curve for blockchain far less steep than it has ever been. Javascript developers can now set up their first dApp in the same amount of time it takes to spin up a React app. 

The JS SDK release has everything you need to dive right into blockchain development including the contract framework itself, JavaScript and TypeScript contract examples, and example tests. It is implemented in TypeScript, which offers developers implicit, strict, and structural typing, along with type annotations built into your favorite IDE. 

Developers can get started building their first JavaScript decentralized application by following this quick start guide or heading to Pagoda’s landing page to learn more. 

A Closer Look at the JS SDK

The JS SDK provides each contract its own instance of a JS engine running inside it. This design allows developers to write contracts in pure JavaScript or TypeScript, and access all the same features, like oracles, available to Rust contracts.

To get started, run npx create-near-app in your terminal and select JavaScript for your smart contract. Once everything is installed you can test, compile, and deploy your newly created project with ease.

For a more detailed look at the contract structure and other configurations check out this dApp QuickStart Guide on NEAR’s Official Documentation site. 

About Pagoda

The JS SDK is developed by Pagoda, the engineering team that builds and maintains NEAR Protocol and some of the most important tools needed for decentralized application (dApp) development. Developers can use the Pagoda suite of tools to build, deploy, test, and interact with smart contracts on NEAR. For more information on the JS SDK, visit Pagoda or join the NEAR Discord and checkout the #engineering channels where resources like live support are available every day. 

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