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What is Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML)
The distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, and VMware Blockchain support the development of decentralized applications (dApps) using the programming language known as Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML).
Developers can easily create secure and reliable smart contracts with the help of the declarative, type-safe, contract-oriented language known as DAML. It provides a high-level programming abstraction that streamlines the expression of intricate business logic and the development of intricate workflows. Moreover, DAML offers a strong data model that can manage intricate financial and legal instruments.
One of DAML’s important features is its support for multi-party workflows, which enables programmers to design smart contracts involving numerous parties that each have specific roles and responsibilities. Automation of intricate financial procedures is now conceivable, including supply chain management, insurance, and trade finance.
Because DAML is platform-agnostic, smart contracts created using it can operate without any changes on many DLT systems. This makes it simpler for developers to design dApps that are compatible across many networks and platforms.
Overall, DAML is an effective tool for creating safe, scalable, and interoperable smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on platforms using distributed ledger technology.
The history of Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML)
Digital Asset Holdings, a fintech company based in New York, originally unveiled the Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML) in April 2016. The language was created as a high-level programming language for building distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, smart contracts, and decentralized apps (dApps).
The open-source blockchain technology Hyperledger Fabric, which was also created by Digital Asset Holdings, was the foundation upon which DAML was initially intended to operate. One of the first smart contract languages to be merged with Hyperledger Fabric was DAML, in fact.
Digital Asset Holdings soon discovered that DAML could also be applied to other DLT platforms, though. They made DAML SDK, an open-source version of the language that could be used with any DLT platform that supported smart contracts, available in 2018.
Since then, DAML has grown in recognition as a potent tool for creating dApps and safe, scalable smart contracts. Numerous significant DLT platforms, such as Corda, VMware Blockchain, and Hyperledger Sawtooth, currently support DAML.
The Digital Asset Modelling Language Foundation, an independent open-source initiative, was created in 2020 as part of a plan made by Digital Asset Holdings to spin out the DAML language (DAML Foundation). The goal of the foundation is to encourage the usage of DAML as a standard for creating dApps and smart contracts on DLT platforms.
How Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML) works
Developers can create decentralized applications (dApps) and implement smart contracts using the high-level programming language Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML) on platforms that use distributed ledger technology (DLT). Here is how DAML functions:
- Declarative Language: Because DAML is a declarative language, programmers express their goals rather than how to get there. This enables developers to concentrate on the application’s business logic rather than the underlying technological aspects.
- Contract-Oriented: Since DAML is contract-oriented, programmers create smart contracts to specify the conditions and terms of a transaction. With smart contracts, the details of the agreement between the buyer and seller are directly encoded into lines of code. These contracts self-execute.
- Multi-Party Workflows: Since DAML allows such workflows, programmers are able to create smart contracts that include several parties, each of whom has specific roles and obligations. This enables programmers to automate intricate financial procedures including supply chain management, insurance, and trade finance.
- Platform-Agnostic: Because DAML is platform-agnostic, smart contracts created with it can operate without any changes on various DLT systems. This makes it simpler for developers to design dApps that are compatible across many networks and platforms.
- Type-safe: Because DAML is type-safe, developers can identify mistakes at compilation rather than during execution. This lowers the possibility of problems and facilitates the creation of secure and reliable smart contracts.
- DAML is connected with a software development kit (SDK) that offers tools and libraries for developing, testing, and deploying dApps and smart contracts. A sandbox environment is also offered by the SDK for testing smart contracts and mimicking network activity.
Overall, DAML is an effective tool for creating safe, scalable, and interoperable smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on platforms using distributed ledger technology. A high-level programming abstraction and multi-party workflow support are provided by DAML, which makes it simpler for programmers to design intricate financial and legal instruments.
What blockchain is DAML on
The platform-agnostic programming language known as Digital Asset Modelling Language (DAML) can be utilized on a variety of distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, including blockchain.
Several significant DLT platforms, including Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, and VMware Blockchain, support DAML. Each of these platforms has a unique consensus algorithm and blockchain implementation that governs how transactions are verified and added to the blockchain.
Developers can create smart contracts and decentralized apps (dApps) without having to be concerned with the technical specifics of the blockchain since DAML adds an abstraction layer over the implementation of the underlying blockchain. Any DLT platform that supports DAML can execute smart contracts written in it without any changes.
To summarize, DAML may be used to create safe and scalable smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on a variety of DLT platforms, including blockchain.
