Former Ava Labs exec reveals ‘Commonware’ crypto primitives framework

Patrick O’Grady, a former Ava Labs executive, revealed the “Commonware” framework.

Commonware is a collection of crypto primitives, which are the basic building blocks in a programming language. The primitive toolkit gives crypto developers a standardized set of these basic building blocks without locking them in any particular development track.

According to O’Grady, today’s general-purpose crypto stack hinders developers, who must “work against” the inbuilt parameters when attempting to build a unique product.

Examples of unique use cases include ordering gaming data in a certain way to prevent manipulation or replacing traditional blockchain addresses with human-readable names.

Comparison of how standard operating systems and current blockchain apps run. Source: Patrick O’Grady

Commonware solves this by being an “anti-framework” set of tools that gives developers maximum creative control over their products by allowing them to choose which primitives to use in their applications. The software developer wrote:

"This stack has no explicit layers. No specific security assumption. There is no hardcoded block type, state layout, finality definition, mempool policy, execution rules, or fee metering. It is neither monolithic nor modular but could be used to build towards either."

This mix-and-match approach to blockchain software development attempts to improve the developer experience, which should translate into better user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).

Examples of programming primitives that can be mixed and matched to a developer’s needs. Source: Patrick O’Grady

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Simplifying blockchain for developers and users

The rigidity of current blockchain programmatic interfaces creates issues for developers that may complicate the end experience for users — which remains one of the biggest hurdles to crypto mass adoption.

In 2023, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) surveyed 2,337 people about crypto ownership. Nearly one-third (30%) of those surveyed said that a lack of understanding and the technical barrier to entry prevented them from interacting with crypto.

Platforms like Hathor, a layer-1 blockchain, seek to reduce this high barrier to entry by giving developers a standardized set of tools that leverage the Python programming language to ease the smart contract learning curve.

Oracle provider Chainlink also revealed the Chainlink Runtime Environment in November. Like other unified frameworks, the Chainlink Runtime Environment attempts to abstract away the complexities of connecting different blockchain systems and traditional financial architecture for developers and users.

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