Introducing FirstByte

in utopian-io •  6 years ago  (edited)

eli5: Making things for stuff takes a lot of time. Blockchains use lots of stuff, so it takes more time to make things for them. FirstByte is really smart and creates "negative-time" so you have more time to make your blockchain things.

tl;dr We are making it dead-simple for you to create native apps and websites for and with ByteBall using the Quasar Framework. This post introduces the project, its goals and timeline. Follow @first-byte to keep up to date!

repo: https://github.com/quasarframework/quasar-byteball-starter-kit

Why?

byteball is awesome, and there are really a - lot - of - great - projects being built with it... but there should be more. This project seeks to make that a reality by providing developers with a dedicated (and mildly opinionated) starter kit for accelerating the development of their byteball projects.

Mere inspiration make not the app alone,
as they with great ideas may not
necessarily great developers be.

Especially within the domain of applied cryptography and virtual currency, novice’s mistakes are more likely than beginner’s luck. FirstByte minimizes these risks by enabling those with moderate skill (or a willingness to learn) to produce shippable best-practice apps for all major computing platforms from one code base and in record time. Tailored to meet the needs of both Byteball enthusiasts and professional developers, the core of FirstByte is built on the Quasar Framework and byteball.js - and is distributed under the permissive MIT license.

Quasar Everywhere

The Quasar Framework is the super-charged node.js developer's darling that uses es6, babel and webpack (among other pieces of core tech) that provides a way to easily build reproducible best-practice Vue.js front-end projects for any operating system from the same codebase. Whether cordova apps for iOS and Android; Electron apps for Windows, MacOS and Linux; or even SSR+PWA websites - Quasar has you covered.

So now what?

At this very moment, the Quasar team is getting ready to release its 1.0.0-alpha, and FirstByte is the very first official, extended "starter-kit" that will be released with the 1.0.0-beta. It will serve as the "golden standard" by which all other extended starter-kits for 1.0 will be measured.

With FirstByte, the core team of Quasar is raising the stakes by extending its best-in-class developer experience to the crypto-realm. By integrating a fully-rigged set of testing harnesses and range of back-ends, Quasar will have graduated from being merely the best front-end framework to a full-stack solution flexible enough for the most discerning tastes.

When this first phase of the project is completed, there will be a FirstByte hackathon run by Quasar and Byteball with the support of Utopian (date and location TBA).

Deliverables

Inheritance is a powerful pattern, and this project will leverage it. FirstByte in and of itself is a lerna-based monorepo hosted at a public git repository where all of the development and CI pipelines are managed. When it is viable, it will be available as a WIP via NPM and YARN - as well as from IPFS and DAT.

Basics

Quasar delivers a number of things “from the core” that are available in all projects:

  • quasar-cli for best in class development with HMR (even in electron)
  • over 100 curated and pixel-perfect Material Design components
  • the innate ability to build SPA, PWA, SSR, Cordova and Electron apps
  • All ES6 language features
  • ESLint in Standard (or AirBnB) style

Flavours

We envision the creation of a number of different flavours of FirstByte starters, but for the time being we will just be making the "Pure flavour" as described below.

Each of the flavours of FirstByte are tailored for special needs, and the template (from which the flavours were constructed) will be provided so that the concoction of new flavours can be made with a simple pull request.

  1. Pure - just the basics, for master chefs and those who aspire to greatness
  2. Caramel Sweet - the simplest of the bunch, hard to adapt, easy to use
  3. Black Salt - with a special focus on security, anonymity and NAT punching
  4. Bitterly Complex - rewarding for the connoisseur of files
  5. Sour and Severe - so the deals don’t have to be - a contract focussed flavour
  6. Umami - generative and distinguished - only for professionals

The Pure flavour will be a minimal setup that extends the basic Quasar core with:

  • a collection of maintenance scripts for development, publication and distribution
  • multiple test-runners, including Jest, Cypress and Webdriver-based E2E with sample tests
  • ESLint extended with A11Y “lifting”
  • CI pipelines and dockerfiles
  • GraphQL / Apollo / Prisma API and DB
  • the Byteball.js library
  • integration with now.js for immediate project delivery
  • automated documentation of APIs and functions
  • robust system configuration and secret management using ENV variables
  • developer configurable colors, icons, background images, graphs and animations
  • i18n language translation engine rigged for use with content, not just interface

The Caramel Sweet flavour makes a number of decisions for the developer regarding authentication, authorization, web storage, internationalisation, routing and uses a dead-simple provisioning approach with the free tier of now.sh - so that inside a matter of minutes an app can be launched.


For security professionals, Black Salt is not intended for use as a web-application, but rather within the trusted domain of the operating system. With ngrok integration, 2FA and token authentication, in-memory decryption of local data, this flavour is a great starting point for privacy and security-first applications.


The Bitterly Complex flavour treats files as first-class citizens and allows for several methods of interaction with IPFS, the local filesystem and specialist concerns like uploading, transcoding and even base64.


The Sour and Severe flavour is focussed on writing, verifying and using smart-contracts, perhaps for those interested in building a platform for trading or exchange.


The Umami flavour is for researchers: Generating, creating and visualizing datasets harvested from the DAG (or even master-nodes!), cross-referenced with other sources and creating highly reactive force-graphs, trees and other delta-based sets of information. If the developer is interested in making predictions about performance, this would be the place to start.

Documentation

In addition to that which is provided by Byteball, Quasar, vue.js and byteball.js, the FirstByte Pure starter will describe in detail every component, plugin and script. The factors that make each flavour distinct will be described in minutia. Partially generated from JSDoc comments, and partially handwritten by the authors, the approach to be maintained is a “living document”. Further, the entire documentation will be i18n based and translated using the Utopian.io / DaVinci service.

Timeline:

  • November
    scaffolding of the starter-kit
  • December
    extension with backends
    integration of byteball.js / other libs
    testing
  • January
    integration with @quasar 1.0 distribution channel
    baseline app builds
    documentation
  • February
    hackathon

Important Links:

Team:

Author proof of work done

https://github.com/nothingismagick

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

I'm currently learning coding (React, Javascript, Node.js) so that I can bring all my ideas to life on the blockchain... but since I've never coded before I'm sure know how overwhelming and confusing it all is... a project/product like this could make such a massive difference.

I'd definitely be happy to help you test it out from a fairly rank newbie point of view when you're ready...

It would be awesome if you could share your experience with FirstByte with the community!

That sounds great! Let's connect

Great... are you on Discord?

Sent

Nice Project , congratulations @first-byte!

A small number of Byteball Bytes remain in my wallet, so maybe I will have to understand more about this project. Thanks for sharing @first-byte!

Congratulations @first-byte!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following category:

  • Pending payout - Ranked 3 with $ 116,9

Welcome first-byte!
eSteem is the application that improves your experience here. We have Mobile application for Android and iOS users. We also have developed Surfer Desktop application that helps you to gain new followers and stay connected with your friends, unique features - notifications, bookmarks, favorites, drafts, and more.
We reward our users with encouragement upvotes as well as monthly giveaways rewarding Spotlight top users and active Discord users.
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq

welcome @first-byte

Posted using Partiko Android

Welcome to steemit @first-byte.

Welcome the new steemians. Have a great day!

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 50 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 100 upvotes.

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

Meet the Steemians Contest - Intermediate results

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Welcome first-byte!
eSteem is the application that improves your experience here. We have Mobile application for Android and iOS users. We also have developed Surfer Desktop application that helps you to gain new followers and stay connected with your friends, unique features - notifications, bookmarks, favorites, drafts, and more.
We reward our users with encouragement upvotes as well as monthly giveaways rewarding Spotlight top users and active Discord users.
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq

Welcome to Steem first-byte! Partiko is officially the fastest and most popular mobile app for Steem. Unlike other Steem apps, we take 0% cut of your earnings! You can also be rewarded with Partiko Points while using Partiko and exchange Partiko Points for upvotes!

Partiko for Android can be downloaded here on Google Play and the iOS version is available here on the App Store.

If you have more questions, feel free to join our Discord channel and ask @crypto.talk, we're always here to help!

Thank you so much for your interest!

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You made your First Vote
You made your First Comment
You got a First Reply

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

Meet the Steemians Contest - The results, the winners and the prizes
Meet the Steemians Contest - Special attendees revealed
Meet the Steemians Contest - Intermediate results

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You published your First Post
You got a First Vote

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

The Meet the Steemians Contest is over - Results are coming soon ...

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 10 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 50 upvotes.

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

The Meet the Steemians Contest is over - Results are coming soon ...

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

congratulations first-byte good work, i am looking forward to your achievement.

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 100 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 250 upvotes.

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

Meet the Steemians Contest - The results, the winners and the prizes
Meet the Steemians Contest - Special attendees revealed
Meet the Steemians Contest - Intermediate results

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

welcome @first-byte

Posted using Partiko Android

Congratulations @first-byte! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got your First payout
You received more than 100 as payout for your posts. Your next target is to reach a total payout of 250

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

Meet the Steemians Contest - The results, the winners and the prizes

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Congratulations @first-byte! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!