General Information about Starknet Alpha 0.12
The developers claim that this version is an important milestone that will give a big leap in the development of the project. It will provide higher performance and scalability, including in the Ethereum crypto network. At the same time, emphasis is placed on bandwidth and latency.
To solve these problems, the developers decided to use Sequencer. They explain this by the fact that a significant part of the bandwidth limitations are related to performance. The creation of Alpha 0.12 required a year of work together with LamdaClass and Starkware.
At the same time, the developers note that this version is going to be made the main one. Therefore, they will start voting in their community.
About performance and throughput
The developers emphasize that the new version focuses on performance, which will help improve throughput. Now it has already reached a tenfold increase. On average, in version 0.11 there were 30 thousand CSPS, when as now it has already reached 220 thousand CSPS.
For this achievement, many targeted optimizations were carried out. They are the basis of Sequencer efficiency. The developers reported this in their performance roadmap. To do this , we used:
- Cairo-rs. This is a Cairo launcher that is highly efficient. It was developed in the Rust programming language by the LamdaClass development team. Thanks to this, we were able to improve the execution of Cairo contracts, as a result of which users can work in a more comfortable environment.
- Blockifier. Represents the logic of block execution. It is also written in the Rust language. This allowed to increase the throughput. Due to the optimization of the time of operations, the waiting time has been reduced. It also reduced the risks of overloading the crypto network.
- Papyrus. Is a local storage solution. This made it possible to achieve more efficient Sequencer state management. This modernization has raised the manufacturer's performance even higher. Also, the system has become faster to make a response.
Additionally, the LamdaClass cairo-native compiler will be integrated. This will increase the efficiency of the execution of Cairo contracts. They will be able to work in their own code, and not in Cairo itself. This is expected to increase efficiency and productivity.
Improving contract syntax
This version has received strong improvements in the syntax of smart contracts. Now he focuses on security. There is also a foundation attachment for scaling.
At the same time, under security, it is assumed that a more extended description of the external elements of the contract will be provided. This applies to the interface, storage, and events. Thanks to this, developers will be able to better understand what to expect when working with a contract. However, extensibility is going to be improved in the next versions. It will enable contracts to use external library elements. This will solve serious problems for network developers.
The developers noted that the participants of the crypto network can use the old version of the compiler (1.1.0) for the next six months. This will allow the community to adapt.
What other plans do the developers have
In the short term, it is planned to improve the user experience and reliability of operations. In version 0.12.1, they are going to include another significant improvement. They will include failed operations in the block.
Now the system does not do this. As a result, Sequencer does not charge a commission for them and does not promote a one-time number. As a result, developers have problems with UX. They had to constantly monitor the operation. It will also protect the system from those participants who constantly bombard the network with unsuccessful operations, while not paying for them.
