From Ethereum to Solana

This is a reflection on the last 10 weeks I've spent learning Solana as a SWE intern.

If you asked me in Aug 2022 what I thought of chains besides Ethereum, I would've scoffed at the question. "Unimportant, let's talk about DeFi in Ethereum." In fact, for a debate session in Outlier DAO, I argued on the absolute superiority of Ethereum over Solana.

I was uninitiated.

For the last two years, I've built and materialized various ideas on EVM chains. My latest is a multi-chain transaction builder & bundler, powered by GPT. I can humbly say I feel comfortable within the bounds of the Solidity compiler and EVM space.

But it felt too comfortable — re-forking the same framework and libraries, resonating ideas in Ethereum hackathons, etc. felt siloed. So when the intern opportunity at Solana came around, I instantly took it over other existing opportunities.

So, for the last 10 weeks, I've had a wonderful opportunity to learn and build on Solana. Reflecting on the experience, I embodied how devs operate in Solana: Chewing Glass, at the intern level.

My Experience

The first week of learning felt extremely off — nothing resembled Ethereum. Why is everything an account? What's a PDA? Why is there no mempool? What is an associated token account? Why is there no standard interface, instead a bunch of "Metaplex" spaghetti?

As a hands-on learner, I opened ten tabs of Orca's Whirlpool codebase and began the usual learn-debug-cry protocol. First, I'd read through each instruction; then, I'd read the test cases in Rust and TypeScript (SDK); finally, I'd write small pieces of code to interact with the instructions, figuring out what's wrong and how parameters change the outputs.

Admittedly, I already knew broadly about Concentrated Liquidity AMMs and Uniswap V3's Solidity codebase. But learning CL-AMM in the context of Solana's architectural limitations felt refreshing to the old knowledge. For example, the concept of TickArrays and Ticks for CL-AMM in Solana blew my mind. Frankly, everything being an account of some sort was so intriguing and exciting.

Ten weeks at Solana Labs flew by faster than winter breaks. I learned about Solana, read a reference whitepaper (with no code), reframed my understanding of DeFi architecture, and develop an MVP. Though I was on my own much of the time, I'm lucky to have received generous help and guidance from Alexey and Noah on many things.

It's an absolute understatement to say that Solana immensely refreshed and broadened my perspective on blockchain — I'm beyond grateful to have begun learning Solana this summer.

Solana has uncovered an uncharted territory of ideas for me.

Unattainable concepts in EVM are suddenly possible on Solana. Look at DRiP giving away millions of artist-empowering NFTs or the basic Break game that works like Cookie Clicker for Solana!

Final Thoughts

I highly urge EVM developers to venture past the one giant, established state machine. Standing on the shoulders of the EVM feels comforting; everyone agrees on the same idea space and product designs. But what's fun if we don't seek out novel challenges? If you think it's too risky, you're already building in crypto! (Though the exploration doesn't have to be on Solana, I recommend the chain.)

Solana has endured many cycles and challenges. It's a battle-tested chain with an entirely distinct foundation from that of Ethereum. Ethereum envisions scaling via dank-sharded sub-committees and L2s (one or many), becoming a settlement layer for non-overlapping L2 states. For Solana, the scaling mantra goes: "Hardware is All You Need." Solana is a global single-state machine that reaps the benefits of hardware scaling from the Web2 giants like TSMC, Intel, and AMD.

Ethereum and Solana are different enough to augment your ideas and skillset in crypto. Learn both chains. Combine the good in the distinctive chains. You'll be surprised and enthralled by the explosion of tingling ideas to tinker with.

What's Next For Me?

Throw ideas at the wall, see what sticks, find the holy PMF, and learn more low-level computer stuff. College but will be attending crypto conferences, like SBC and Breakpoint!