If you’re a software developer, then you may have heard something about blockchain technology.  Perhaps you’re intrigued by smart contracts—code-based agreements on blockchains, programmed to auto-execute under specific conditions.

Smart contracts are a significant innovation. They enhance blockchain utility for various users including software developers, and could transform the way you build. Read on to learn everything that you need to know about smart contracts—and get the steps to integrate smart contracts into your development workflow.

What are smart contracts?

A smart contract is a blockchain-based contract with terms and conditions that are written directly into the contract’s code. Smart contracts are “signed” by being published to a blockchain, which stores the smart contract for any blockchain participant to view at any time. 

The execution of a smart contract can occur manually by the consent of its stakeholders, or be triggered automatically when predefined criteria are met. Smart contracts can facilitate, automate, and enforce agreements between parties without the need for any intermediaries. 

Multiple blockchain programming languages are available for developers to write smart contracts. Solidity, the programming language for Ethereum, is a popular choice.

15 development use cases for smart contracts

Smart contracts are a versatile tool that can support many aspects of software development. Let’s explore what smart contracts can do:

1. Automate management and payouts for bug bounty programs
2. Escrow and automate payments to contractors
3. Manage subscriptions to SaaS products, including auto-renewal and cancellation
4. Support microtransactions without the need for traditional intermediaries or payment processors
5. Manage access to APIs with automated usage tracking and billing
6. Manage crowdfunding for software development projects 
7. Manage intellectual property including royalty payments, software usage rights and licensing
8. Enforce data usage policies and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations 
9. Track and verify the origin and history of assets, including software components
10. Enable peer-to-peer transactions in decentralized marketplaces
11. Support the creation of decentralized applications, or dApps
12. Facilitate decentralized governance
13. Support resilient and decentralized data storage and retrieval
14. Automate testing, validation, and compliance monitoring processes
15. Audit other smart contracts

Pros and cons of smart contracts for software developers

Developers can significantly benefit from using smart contracts, but that doesn’t mean that smart contracts have no risks or disadvantages. Let’s explore the most important pros and cons of smart contracts for software developers.

Pros of smart contracts

• Operational efficiency: Smart contracts can automate processes, making workflows and software applications more efficient.‍
• Versatility: Smart contracts are versatile with many use cases across industries.‍
• Cost efficiency: Smart contracts can be cost efficient, in part because they reduce or eliminate the need for intermediaries.‍
• Integration potential: Web applications and smart contracts can be interoperable, enabling developers to enhance their existing software projects with new and innovative blockchain capabilities.‍
• Transparency: Distributed ledger technology enables smart contracts to be highly transparent, enhancing accountability and reducing the potential for disputes.‍
• Immutability: Smart contracts are typically immutable after they are deployed, a condition that may increase the stability and predictability of software applications, but also comes with its own challenges. ‍
• Accessibility: Anyone can build or use composable smart contracts, enabling software developers to seamlessly collaborate across geographic borders.‍
• Innovation opportunities: The diversity of smart contract use cases for software developers may create opportunities for devs to innovate in surprising ways.‍
• 24/7 functionality: Smart contracts can be programmed to operate continuously without human intervention.

Cons of smart contracts

• Potential for coding errors: Coding errors in smart contracts can create software vulnerabilities, which may be exploited by malicious actors. Thorough code reviews, third-party security audits, and testing are crucial to minimize security risks.
• Limited flexibility: Smart contracts may be less flexible than traditional contracts—all of the contract’s conditions and possible outcomes must be explicitly defined in the code.
• Scalability challenges: Blockchain platforms with heavy traffic and network congestion can cause smart contract execution to be prohibitively expensive or slow. Developers must carefully select a blockchain to develop on, accounting for its historical, current, and expected usage and scalability roadmap.
• Volatile transaction fees: Using smart contracts may cut costs, but transaction fees on a blockchain network can be significantly more volatile. Developers connecting their application to smart contracts must consider the frequency and type of smart contract transactions to reduce the impact of transaction fee volatility.
• Regulatory uncertainty: The rapidly evolving regulatory landscape for blockchain applications creates uncertainty for smart contract developers and users.
• Privacy limitations: The transparency of smart contracts makes them generally less private than traditional contracts. Developers are obligated to meticulously consider the data submitted with each transaction to prevent harmful data leakage.
• Oracle dependencies: A smart contract may rely on an oracle to access external data, potentially creating data errors, attack vectors, and software vulnerabilities. Blockchain oracles rely on different methodologies to make external data available to smart contracts. Developers must consider the specific needs of their application as they select their oracle(s).
• Technical complexity: The complexity of smart contracts can present a challenge for software developers, who may need to learn a new programming language like Solidity or Rust.
• Ecosystem fragmentation: The smart contract ecosystem is developing and still fragmented, which may limit interoperability among smart contracts. Developers must consider the documentation and ecosystem support available as they embark on smart contract development.

How software developers can start using smart contracts

Are you curious about how to integrate smart contracts with your development workflow? Check out these steps for getting started and deriving the maximum benefit from smart contracts as a developer.

1. Identify how smart contracts may benefit your existing projects

Software developers can begin by evaluating their current projects. Which of your projects would benefit from increased automation, transparency, or the integration of microtransactions? Identify projects, features, user experiences, and tasks that can potentially be improved with smart contracts.

2. Choose the right blockchain platform

Your next step is to select a suitable blockchain platform. Focus on the platforms that align with your project goals, meet your scalability requirements, and provide plenty of ecosystem support.

3. Learn the necessary programming languages

Now comes the hard part—learning a new programming language. The programming language that you need to learn may be specific to the blockchain platform that you choose.

4. Ensure legal and regulatory compliance

Anyone who develops and deploys a smart contract should ensure that the smart contract complies with all applicable laws and regulations, including data privacy and financial regulations. Triple check whether that data really needs to be written to the blockchain!

5. Develop your first smart contract

Explore documentation, tutorials, and best practices to develop your first smart contract. Focus your development efforts on the functionality, efficiency, and security of the smart contract.

6. Conduct thorough testing

Thoroughly test your smart contract before deploying it. Conduct unit testing, integration testing, and security auditing to identify and address any vulnerabilities. 

7. Get your code audited

Independent audits are crucial to ensure the security, reliability, and functionality of blockchain-based applications. Auditing can help to identify and address potential security risks, such as coding errors, vulnerabilities, or loopholes that could be exploited by malicious actors. If your smart contract performs any type of transaction settlement, then third-party audits are a must before any release.

8. Create a user interface

Make your smart contract easy to use by building an intuitive user interface. The UI may take the form of a website, mobile app, or other digital platform.

9. Conduct monitoring and maintenance

Successful operations of a smart contract require continuous monitoring of the smart contract's performance and security. Software developers and maintainers can receive alerts about anomalies or unexpected behavior, and should be prepared to promptly address any issues.

10. Provide documentation and user education 

If your smart contract is designed for use by other software developers or the general public, then make sure to provide sufficient documentation. Smart contract users can also benefit from tutorials, webinars, blogs, and other educational materials.

11. Offer user support

Another way to ensure the success of a smart contract is to provide prompt and personalized customer support. Users who receive satisfactory responses to customer service requests may be more likely to continue using a smart contract.

12. Engage with the community

Support your smart contract by engaging with the community that uses it. Hang out on all the right social media channels to collect user feedback, participate in discussions, and build a loyal community.

Is web3 the future of software development?

Software developers are increasingly choosing to integrate web3 tools including smart contracts. But why? Let’s summarize the major benefits of transitioning to web3: 

• Own and control your work
• Augment your application with new and innovative blockchain capabilities
• Boost security via decentralization
• Collaborate seamlessly from anywhere in the world
• Innovate faster
• Potentially earn rewards by participating in an incentive protocol
• Work on web3 projects that resonate with you

As fundamental building blocks of web3, smart contracts support various use cases, though both are still maturing technologies. If you’re a software developer who’s intrigued by web3, then you’re already on the right track by learning everything that you can about smart contracts.