Bitcoin Builder's Deck

For anyone interested in building smart contracts on Bitcoin, I've put together this comprehensive list of vocabulary words and phrases to help you–and myself–become an expert in the Clarity programming language, with short definitions for each term. Happy studying! 😉

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Terms

Clarity: A smart contract language designed to be predictable and secure, used primarily on the Stacks blockchain, which is anchored to Bitcoin.

Smart Contract: A program that runs on a blockchain and executes automatically when specific conditions are met.

Blockchain: A decentralized and immutable digital ledger that records transactions across many computers.

Stacks Blockchain: A blockchain network that brings smart contracts and decentralized apps to Bitcoin.

Decidable Language: A type of programming language where the outcome of any given input can be predicted, ensuring that the program will terminate.

Interpreted Language: Code written in Clarity is executed directly without being compiled, ensuring that what you write is exactly what runs on the blockchain.

Post-conditions: Statements that verify the expected outcome of a transaction, helping prevent errors and fraud.

Clarinet: A command-line tool used for developing, testing, and deploying Clarity smart contracts.

Read-Evaluate-Print Loop (REPL): An interactive environment for writing and testing Clarity code snippets.

Primitives: Basic data types in Clarity, such as integers, booleans, and fixed-length buffers.

Sequences: Data structures in Clarity that include lists and tuples.

Composites: Complex data types in Clarity that combine primitives and sequences, like maps.

Constants: Immutable values defined in a Clarity contract that do not change throughout its execution.

Variables: Storage units in a Clarity contract that hold values and can change during execution.

Public Functions: Functions in a Clarity contract that can be called by any user or other contracts.

Private Functions: Functions that can only be called within the contract they are defined in.

Read-only Functions: Functions that do not modify the blockchain state and are used to retrieve data.

Asserts!: A function that checks a condition and aborts the transaction if the condition is not met.

Try!: A function that attempts to execute another function and handles any errors that occur.

Unwrap: Functions used to extract values from optional types, handling errors if the value is absent.

Traits: Interfaces in Clarity that define a set of functions a contract must implement.

Stacks Improvement Proposals (SIPs): Documents that describe new features or processes for the Stacks blockchain, such as SIP009 for NFTs.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): Unique digital assets represented on the blockchain, often defined by SIP009 in Clarity.

Fungible Tokens: Interchangeable tokens with equal value, typically used for currency, defined by SIP010 in Clarity.

Contract Upgradability: Strategies and patterns to update and maintain smart contracts over time without disrupting service.

Clarigen: A tool for generating client libraries for Clarity contracts, facilitating integration with applications.

Visual Studio Code: A popular code editor used for writing and managing Clarity smart contracts, often enhanced with Clarity-specific extensions.

Rainbow Brackets: An extension for Visual Studio Code that helps visualize matching brackets in code, improving readability.

Static Analysis: The process of analyzing code without executing it to detect potential errors and ensure it adheres to specified rules.

Immutable: A property of data that cannot be changed once written, crucial for blockchain records to ensure integrity and trust.

Trustless System: A system that does not rely on trust between participants, instead ensuring security through cryptographic proofs and decentralized consensus.

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Resources

These terms and definitions will provide a solid foundation for your journey to mastering Clarity and building secure, predictable smart contracts on the Stacks blockchain. For more detailed information, refer to the Clarity website, Stacks documentation, and Hiro documentation.