The Best way to become an Ethereum Developer in 2018 — part 2

PART 2

If you followed part 1 of this guide I assume that you finished CryptoZombies and made your own Solidity cheatsheet. Congratulations!

You know how to write smart contracts and build DApp. I am sure it was fun but still it’s far from writing smart contracts yourself. For instance we don’t even have the editor…

Editor

I recommend Visual Studio Code. It’s free and works on Windows / Mac / Linux.

Here is the instruction on how to add Solidity support.

Once you are done with the configuration click on File -> New File

and add a very basic contract like this:

pragma solidity ^0.4.24;

contract FirstContract {

}

Click on File->Save and save it as FirstContract.sol

So now it should look like this:

Syntax highlighting is working now!

Apart from that in the left bottom corner you should see 1 warning (sign with exclamation mark). Click on that sign:

Thanks to Solidity extension we have just found a problem in our contract.

We need to write any valid code in the block:

pragma solidity ^0.4.24;

contract FirstContract {
   uint contractNumber = 1;
}

Now there should be no problems.

Documentation

Make friends with Solidity documentation or at least know where it is.

You can easily switch documentation’s version but don’t worry about that too much at this stage. It’s not a big difference if you read documentation for 0.4.20, 0.4.24 (or any other latest)

a) Introduction to Smart Contracts

I advise you to read Introduction to Smart Contracts and of course take some notes.

Even for version 0.4.24 there is example from version 0.4.0 :)

b) Style Guide

Read through the Style Guide. Take some notes.

It’s a very good practice to stick to such guidelines from day one.

Of course style guides are just suggestions. Don’t be confused if you see some great developers breaking some of them.

Community

If you want to learn quickly and stay up-to-date with so vibrant ecosystem you need to become a part of the community. Yes. Especially if you are very beginner. Don’t feel intimidated. Just do it. Ask questions and share your knowledge with others.

a) Create your account on **Ethereum Stack Exchange**

b) Join the **Solidity Gitter channel**

c) Join Facebook groups (i.e **international, [polish](https://www.facebook.com/groups/531936723867447/)**)

d) Follow blogs. Maybe **this one** ;)

e) Attend Ethereum programming **Meetups** in your area

Next step

Now it is going to be really interesting. See Part 3