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https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-onboarding

Short and to the point action list for anyone interested in hacking on Solana
https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-onboarding

Last synced: 5 months ago
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Short and to the point action list for anyone interested in hacking on Solana

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README 

          
I've been shilling Solana for too long and I often get asked the same questions about why/where/how to start. 



Below is my best attempt at summarizing quality resources for new devs. In theory, this action-list has everything you need to go from wannabe who never coded Rust to proper Solana hacker. 



Enjoy 🦀⚓🚀



# Why Solana



*Not convinced you should bother? Start here.*



### Read



*I find these 3rd party theses to be most compelling.*



1. [Long post by notboring](https://www.notboring.co/p/solana-summer)

2. [Thesis by multicoin](https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/25/technical-scalability-creates-social-scalability/)

3. [Thesis by sino](https://sinoglobalcap.medium.com/why-we-are-bullish-on-solana-c2be784cfdf6)



### Listen



*I tried to pick a mix of founders shilling their own chain / 3rd party opinions.*



1. [Intro so solana on uncommon core](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVEXSF8uqr0)

2. [Solana founders on upOnly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8wsw1htJFY)

3. [Unchained - can Solana seize marketshare from Eth](https://unchainedpodcast.com/can-solana-seize-marketshare-from-ethereum-with-serum/)? [oct 2020]

4. [Unchained - could sol displace eth](https://unchainedpodcast.com/sol-is-up-3800-ytd-could-it-eventually-displace-ethereum/)? [aug 2021 - almost a year later]



# Learn rust



*Aight you're excited and ready to jump in. Where do you start? You start with Rust (used for coding "programs" aka smart contracts on Solana.)*



1. [Rust crash course](https://www.udemy.com/course/ultimate-rust-crash-course/) [4h] - excellent, short and to the point intro. 

2. [The official rust lang book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/) [1-2d of intense reading] - will teach you syntax and language quirks. 

    1. +++ don't be lazy and do the [exercises for each chapter](https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings/tree/main/exercises) 

3. [Zero2Prod](https://www.zero2prod.com/) [1-2 wks of study] - will take you from "I get the syntax" to "I get rust as a programming language and where it's strong/weak".



# Learn Solana



*The juicy part.*



1. Read the ["developing" section](https://docs.solana.com/developing/programming-model/overview) of the docs [2-3h] - you will get a lot of questions, but that's ok. Just write them down and you'll be surprised how quickly they get answered as you progress. 

2. Go play with [hello world app](https://github.com/solana-labs/example-helloworld) [2-3h] - rebuilding/tweaking will help your understanding a lot. 

3. Do [paulx's excellent tutorial](https://paulx.dev/blog/2021/01/14/programming-on-solana-an-introduction/) [1-2d]

4. If you feel you need more tutorials:

    1. [Solana transactions in-depth](https://medium.com/@asmiller1989/solana-transactions-in-depth-1f7f7fe06ac2)

    2. Code a smart contract with [David Choi via video tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7hFdq2h9Q)

5. Otherwise, if you're ready to progress, it's time to read some actual production program code.

    1. [This library](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana-program-library/) contains code for on-chain programs written by Solana core devs & broader community. It's a gold mine for learning. Pick something you already know (eg token-swap == basically uniswap) → read through it → try adding some features / messing with code. You will learn a lot about architecture and design trade-offs.

    2. [Helpful visual diagrams](https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-serum-program-viz) for some of the programs in there

7. Now the twist. All of the above showcases "traditional" way of building programs on solana - but there's a simpler / faster way by using [the anchor framework](https://github.com/project-serum/anchor) âš“

    1. Read [this twitter thread](https://twitter.com/armaniferrante/status/1411589629384355840) to understand why it's so powerful

    2. Follow [anchor's onboarding tutorial](https://project-serum.github.io/anchor/getting-started/introduction.html)

    3. Learn to [debug custom errors with anchor](https://www.notion.so/Debugging-Custom-Anchor-Errors-b8540dd418c44a4e939ab17c56a3fd3b)

    4. So should you build with anchor or the traditional way? It's up to you, but I would recommend going with anchor. You'll move faster, and have certain security stuff out of the box.

8. Build stuff! Fun fun fun. Ideas:

    1. Build a simple blockchain wallet. Personally the first thing I built on Solana was a [tui wallet](https://github.com/ilmoi/degen-wallet) that could do both eth and sol transactions. Taught me a ton about key management and how the two chains compare.

    2. Take something you know on another chain and re-build it on Solana. I picked [fomo3d](https://github.com/ilmoi/solana_fomo3d), which those of you who were around for 2017 craze might remember.

    3. Pick a project in the space that you like and contribute to their repo. [Mango](https://mango.markets/) and [Serum](https://projectserum.com/) are the two that immediately come to mind - both are very keen to fund developers building on top of their protocols.



# Where to get help



*It's ok to be overwhelmed. Here's where you get help.*



- Rust questions

    - Rust community is one of the best I've seen in the dev space. My go to is asking #rust tagged questions on StackOverflow or going to [dedicated rust forums](https://users.rust-lang.org/) if I want to have a bit more of a discussion.

    - Get ready to be amazed! Questions are generally answered within 30min of being asked - that's a totally polar experience to your python/js questions on SO that get 1 reply in 3 days.

    - There's also [Rust discord](https://discord.com/invite/rust-lang-community), if you prefer chats to forums.

- Solana questions

    - In general all the help is available in discord channels such as:

        - [Solana discord](https://discord.com/invite/pquxPsq)

        - [Anchor discord](https://discord.com/invite/xxkZbHzGn6)

        - [Serum discord](https://discord.com/invite/zxPsXcB)

        - [Mango discord](https://discord.com/invite/n8c2YhUYmY)

        - etc

    - First thing to do is always Ctrl-F the discord with any keywords you might have from your error. In general, I'd say 50% of the time someone already had that problem and you'll get an instant answer.

    - If that fails, each protocol usually has some sort of `developer questions` channel. Be specific and to the point with your questions (no "hey this is my first post") and don't feel bad  for re-asking ("still looking for answer to this [reply to own previous question]. Anyone might know?). Worst case CC one of the admins who you see frequenting in the chat.

    

# How to stay up to date



*If crypto as a whole moves at light speed, Solana's ecosystem basically warps time.*



- [Solana's official newsletter](https://solana.com/newsletter) drops about once/mo

- Project serum does a [weekly medium newsletter](https://projectserum.medium.com/), which covers the entire space

- [sol.wtf](https://sol.wtf/) is a little side project I built for fun. It tracks top twitter posts related to Solana

- Podcasts: [Solana's official pod](https://podcast.solana.com/), [FTX's official pod](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ftx-podcast-builders-and-innovators-in/id1518314108), [Solana Cove](https://open.spotify.com/show/7MDXM7GXbsZr44iGP4rdgL), [The antidote](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-antidote-blockchain-decentralization-and-builders/id1548247837) (no new episodes, but good old ones)