This survey aims to gather sentiment, thoughts, and input to identify missing gaps in the Polkadot developer experience. Polkadot is a multifaceted protocol comprising various layers - from the core infrastructure and gossiping of nodes to smart contracts, all the way to light-hearted-memeified dapps; a severe gap still needs to be filled: developer documentation . The term “documentation” is understandably a loaded term by now and, thankfully, is being actively worked on by the folks at Papermoon in collaboration with W3F and Parity.
You will also notice a common theme in this survey: “use cases, use cases, use cases.” This is worth considering as part of our documentation stack, as it showcases real-world examples and references, and showcasing how we can actually solve real industry problems using this tech.
The Polkadot SDK is undoubtedly a very powerful tool that can be used outside of the cryptosphere. The network itself is also undoubtedly the most architecturally sound place to deploy a sensible Web3 application.
Note: You don’t have to be a developer to answer this survey; you need someone who knows what builders in the more expansive web3 space want/need/expect.
Some questions remain unanswered in terms of the broader opinion, i.e.,
- What makes Polkadot better to build on compared to other stacks?
- If not, how can we improve it?
- Polkadot is already superior in terms of infrastructure, but how do people best realize its compute?
- And more: What does building an actual, full-stack application on Polkadot look like? What tools do I have? Where do I find information? Where do I reach out… and more.
It is worth exploring the notion of utilizing Polkadot’s computer outside the traditional and oft-repeated DeFi applications and looking into solving industry problems in a sensible manner with Polkadot. Think of industry verticals, such as supply chain/logistics, trustless marketplaces, or other use cases that would benefit from the resilience of running on a distributed network.
Ultimately, the protocol must be attractive, cost-effective, and sustainable to build on and maintain. While to Polkadot natives, this may seem obvious, those outside of the ecosystem can find it unfamiliar, whereas other options are more straightforward. This is where something like Plaza would help provide that “one-stop shop” in terms of developers.
There is another aspect of documentation, however, that goes beyond the traditional building blocks (which are needed). Once the foundation is set, we should showcase the benefits of this technology over the “traditional” tech stacks, how to build useful/practical applications, and create a standard for how full-stack solutions look on Polkadot.