In our first dev portal update, we informed you of some changes we made to the developer portal and our plans for it, including updating the portal with new information about every other week.

We are extremely happy with the rate at which progress is being made on the developer portal, and we would like to highlight some of the significant additions that have been made since that first post.

Ruby

We’ve added four new introductory Ruby tutorials. These tutorials are designed to be a great starting point for developers looking to get their toes wet in Steem development. They will help Ruby developers learn how to access the Steem blockchain using Ruby and output Steem blog details, active vote totals, and comments to blog posts.

JavaScript

A new JavaScript tutorial was added that walks developers through the steps required to enable their applications to take advantage of client signing. Client-side signing of transactions is different from using SteemConnect in that it doesn’t rely on other servers to generate and verify transactions. The tutorial includes predefined accounts that allow developers to quickly test different transaction types.

AppBase API Calls

We’ve added the condenser_api.* AppBase API calls to the API definitions sections. For those new to the ecosystem, “Condenser” is steemit.com, and AppBase is software we developed that makes it easier for developers to write programs that use the Steem blockchain and gives us a mechanism to add new interfaces in a seamless way.

Developers, the condenser_api.* calls are good to go. As always, please be sure to read all the documentation around the call you’re making, whether it’s in condenser_api.* or some other AppBase API.

Testnet

We’ve added documentation related to the testnet, including how to run one and how to create a custom testnet! There are many reasons to run a testnet; e.g. enabling developers to test their scripts and applications without adding spam to the live network and giving them more flexibility to experiment. A testnet can also help developers work on new features and refine their code before submitting new or improved pull requests to the official Steem repository. All this helps ensure that the code behind the Steem blockchain and applications powered by Steem are high quality.

Dev Portal Team

We believe Steem’s unique properties can make it the blockchain of opportunity for developers, and we understand that the key to doing this is world-class developer resources. Building out these materials is a project we have wanted to prioritize for a long time, which is why we are ecstatic to see the team behind the dev portal making steady improvements to documentation. Check out their work for yourself at developers.steem.io.

Members of the team are also experimenting with holding real-time office hours in the SteemDevs Discord. Stop in and ask a question. When they’re online, they’ll do their best to help you.

This project is still in its early stages so feedback is welcome, whether it’s about what tutorials we should add or other improvements. Email any suggestions to Steemit’s Developer Advocate at [email protected], with the subject line “devportal - $subject”.

Team Steemit