Best Practices For Building A Blockchain SDK
The standards of good blockchain SDKs defined by Mirror World
Blockchain Software Development Kit, or as we all refer to Blockchain SDK or crypto SDK, is a set of software tools and programs used to help to create apps on blockchain platforms. A well-built crypto SDK streamlines the process of developing blockchain functionalities and brings a wide array of benefits.
Even though an SDK could seem simple in terms of lines of code, it profoundly impacts a product's adoption and maintenance, making the onboarding process more accessible for all. While Mirror World is developing its crypto mobile SDK, learning more about the common pain points, as well as constructive feedback, considering SDKs on the market could contribute to the development of general guidelines.
With that, this research will address the following questions that are constantly brought up in discussion amongst developers:
What makes a good SDK?
How to upgrade the SDK?
What are the key factors for developers to consider when selecting an SDK?
I. What makes a good SDK and how to make one?
An ideal SDK should include:
A comprehensive collection of tools, with independent modules, that enable software developers to build applications faster.
Excellent extensibility and expandable properties.
Low-cost learning, providing thorough documentation and frequent updates on samples and questions.
Full supporting services, including tutorials, demos, bug reports, and a developer community.
Error handling through better reports on bug fixes.
Clear versioning.
Low Code
Write less code: the more interfaces, the more code, and the greater the possibility of having bugs. Nowadays, as the size of a mobile app directly determines whether users download it, it is crucial to ensure that an SDK is lightweight, allowing developers to access it quickly and easily.
To create secure wallets, mint NFT, deploy marketplaces, and swap tokens with a few lines of code, you can easily authenticate your users through Mirror World SDK without the hassle of making users manage seed phrases, or present them with various popups to perform simple actions on Solana.
That being said, how to build a lightweight SDK of your own? A few guidelines below can help facilitate the development process.
1.Synchronous Call
Encapsulate complex functions and provide a unified entry for external uses. Try to shield implementation details, reducing the effort of understanding parameters.
For example, with Mirror World mobile SDK, user login can be accomplished with a simple function call:
More examples can be found at: https://docs.mirrorworld.fun/
2. Centralized Configuration
Use one file to configure complex parameters, rather than adding them everywhere. If the developer wants to change certain parameters, there is no need to write additional code, which makes it easier to maintain projects and support multiple environments.
3.Loose Coupling
Have clear boundaries and reduce the interdependencies across modules. The team should communicate and decide on the functionality each module implements.
In cases when developers only need a single service, it is important whether each module can be built, tested, and debugged individually. To deploy a marketplace for your application, for example, Mirror World SDK provides the most powerful decentralized marketplace architecture on Web3, allowing users to click, buy, and transfer NFTs with one click.
Clarity
When developers choose an SDK, they tend to judge based on the documentation preview. Since adopting a new SDK has its learning cost, the documentation has to be concise and self-explained to stand out.
Here are a few strategies to increase clarity:
1.Structured Table of Contents
Categorize code by function and put it under the specified directory. Consider standard practices such as subcontracting, layering, etc., so that users can know the role of each at a glance.
2.Formatted Code
Have a single, shared style and enforce it through automatic formattings, such as the use of 4 spaces. Though it is hard to implement throughout the actual development process, code formatting is necessary for a team to understand a project better and maintain it.
3.Naming
Use consistent naming for functions of SDK, try to make it align with user habits, and be self-explanatory without reading the documentation.
4.Annotation
Add comments before each directory and function, making sure that developers can know what it does and how to use it at once.
Extensibility
A major difficulty in creating an SDK is to balance the most usage scenarios and the customized needs of a small group of users. Its extensibility is thus important for iterations, or else any change implemented will affect the whole framework.
In that regard, Mirror World SDK is built from the ground up to be modular, so developers can choose which services they need. The incremental adoption also allows users to implement Token Sampras or simple application login.
Here are several ways to improve extensibility:
1.Dependency-Less
Minimize the dependencies of the SDK on other libraries. Less dependencies can reduce both its size and, more importantly, the likelihood of confronting conflicts.
In case developers want to add some functions, the integrated third-party library should be deployed and utilized as a plugin, isolated for easy access. When a problem occurs, such as high CPU usage or memory leaks that are difficult to troubleshoot, developers can quickly narrow the recurrence path, locate the problem, and remove the specific third-party library.
2.Third-Party Libraries
If the SDK uses a third-party library, it should define some interfaces and then share them directly with developers for review. If developers strongly desire to replace third-party libraries, they should be permitted to do so.
3.Customization
In addition to built-in functionality, it is recommended to provide a standard interface for developers to override the default and fill in their own implementations for components, which improves flexibility to a large extent.
Stability
Following the rapid increase in SDK developers, more inexplicable bugs have been found. With less dependencies, their impact on users is hard to measure, which is why ensuring the stability of SDK is vital.
Below are several ways to increase stability:
1.Testing
Unit tests (UT) are aimed at testing small isolated components of code, ensuring that each function is working properly. Additionally, developers can estimate the execution efficiency of SDK through load testing.
Adding this information to the documentation is recommended, and the team can optimize its performance afterward.
2.Changelog
Semantic versioning is important as developers often complain about frequent updates breaking backward compatibility.
Minimize changes to core functions and interfaces, especially the names, input parameters, and return values. For relatively significant changes, developers can guide users by writing a new function and annotating it along with the previous one.
Developers can also decide on the version number and solely change the minor version number for small changes. Such design can give others the expectation that this is a large-scale change and may exist in incompatibilities.
Mirror World SDK keeps its changelog updated through Github.
3.Exception Handling
Make sure that developers are aware of the exceptions and deal with them accordingly to prevent unexpected errors.
4.Complete Log
The key function calls must have a log, showing complete calling path while locating and debugging a problem that is not easy to reproduce.、
5.Monitoring
Quantifying problems such as memory, CPU usage, and frame rate.
6.Customer Service
The efficiency with which the SDK team provides services is important. It has to ensure effective bug reporting and fast bug fixes on a daily basis.
II. Factors for Developers to Consider
When deciding between multiple SDKs, what factors will developers consider? Spending time and effort on building these aspects helps drive widespread adoption.
Documentation
Documentation directly impacts usage, as it decreases the amount of time spent onboarding new users while acting as the sales book. An SDK without documentation is often out of consideration.
Ergo, a team must create clear and complete documentation introducing ways to import SDK, services provided, and how to use them. Other details, including frequently asked questions, can be added as well.
Tutorial & Demo
A useful SDK is often equipped with step-by-step tutorials. If not, at least code samples of runnable programs are necessary.
It is recommened to provide existing templates and common integration methods as a reference, allowing developers to create their own software quickly.
Start by selecting a development device and configuring the development environment, then use the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to create an empty project, integrate the SDK, implement basic logic, build and run the project, and test the result.
With that being said, getting started with Mirror World SDK in your application requires only 3 simple steps:
Create a developer account on the Mirror World Developer Dashboard
Create a new project. Copy the API Key and
clientId.Install the SDK in your project and start using it.
Community
Having a support community with group chat, forum, and customer services is also important.
Mirror World SDK has already established various systems in place to support developers through the process. The main avenues are Discord, Telegram, Support tickets, used to address questions, post announcements, seek collaboration on projects, and chat with the maintainers. The team hopes to provide a valuable knowledge base and support system for all blockchain developers, even beyond Mirror World Mobile SDK users.
Funtionality
Developers prefer an all-in-one solution instead of multiple engines that do few things for developers. Each SDK has its learning cost, and having more may cause compatibility problems.
III. About Mirror World SDK
The Mirror World Mobile SDK is an all-in-one crypto development infrastructure that provides simple, declarative software modules for building Mobile and Web Applications into multiple Web 3 Architecture.
If you are interested in Mirror World SDK, please check the following links:
Website: https://mirrorworld.fun/developer
Blog: https://blog.mirrorworld.fun/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mirror_matrix
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9NkOWpL_b2kotDBmtE98dw