Introduction to Celo Tech Talk Series
Judy Piper, an engineer at Celo Sea Labs and host of the Celo Tech Talk series, thanks the participants for joining. She introduces the series as an initiative by Celo Foundation to share knowledge and information about Celo technology with the growing Celo community. The previous tech talks covered various topics, starting with an overview of Celo’s full-stack solution and architecture, followed by deep dives into different layers of the Celo network, such as Valora (the Celo mobile app wallet), consensus mechanism, validators, stability protocol, governance, and more. Judy also mentions that all previous sessions are available on YouTube.
Introduction to Barbara Liao and her background
Barbara Liao, the lead of the Developer Experience Engineering team at Celo Labs, is introduced as the guest for the current session. Barbara shares her experience in the crypto industry, starting with her work at Storage, a decentralized storage solution. She later worked as a consultant for blockchain companies and co-founded Summa, a cross-chain interoperability solutions company. Barbara expresses her excitement about presenting the workshop and introduces her interests, including her love for dogs, plants, and learning new things.
Overview of Web 2 and Web 3 Development
Barbara provides an overview of web development, comparing Web 2 (centralized) and Web 3 (blockchain-based) applications. She explains that in Web 2, applications are hosted on centralized servers, while in Web 3, applications run on decentralized networks like Celo. She discusses the languages, frameworks, and payment processors commonly used in Web 2 development and contrasts them with the tools and concepts specific to blockchain development. She mentions that Celo aims to be a lightweight and mobile-first platform, making financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone.
Introduction to Celo Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Barbara introduces Celo’s blockchain layer and its smart contracts. She highlights that Celo has two digital assets and explains the role of smart contracts in facilitating transactions on the Celo blockchain. She mentions that developers can interact with these contracts to send and receive transactions, and she briefly touches on the security and consensus mechanisms of the Celo blockchain.
Tools and Resources for Celo Development
Barbara provides an overview of various tools and resources available for Celo development. She mentions the Celo CLI, Ganache CLI (modified for Celo), Blockscout (a website to view Celo transactions), and the Celo community channels, including Discord, Twitter, and the Celo documentation. She also mentions the Devkit, a development kit for building Celo applications, and explains its purpose.
Setting Up the Development Environment
Barbara guides participants through the process of setting up their development environment for Celo. She discusses the prerequisites, including Node.js and npm (Node Package Manager). She advises using the correct versions of Node.js and yarn (a package manager similar to npm) for Celo development. Barbara explains the installation steps for Node.js, yarn, and other necessary dependencies, such as Ganache CLI. She also mentions the installation of the Celo wallet for managing funds on the Celo network.
Next Steps: Writing Code and Development Workflow
Barbara concludes the session by mentioning that the next part of the workshop will cover writing code and the development workflow. She encourages participants to reach out if they have any questions or need clarification. She mentions the availability of support on Discord and expresses her gratitude for the participants’ engagement.