MLabs - Cardano Onchain Languages Benchmark

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

Additional applicants

Tomasz Maciosowski

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Problem

The Cardano ecosystem develops rapidly and offers many languages to write smart contracts. Currently, there is no clear non-opinionated comparison of these languages that will show how to achieve equivalent validators and compare the performance characteristics.

Solution

We will develop a comprehensive comparison test suite and benchmark for the onchain programming languages available in the Cardano ecosystem. It will enable developers to understand and evaluate the performance characteristics of different languages when choosing a language to write their DApps.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Intended Challenge – F10: Developer Ecosystem - The Evolution

Challenge Question – How do we equip and support developers with tools and working infrastructure? How do we make Cardano their first choice when it comes to building dApps, innovating and collaborating?

What does this proposal entail?

Our proposed solution involves the development of a specification for an onchain validator that can be implemented in multiple programming languages within the Cardano ecosystem, such as Plutarch, PlutusTx, Aiken, Opshin, and others. This specification will serve as a standardized guideline for writing validators, ensuring consistency across different language implementations.

To ensure the accuracy and equivalence of these language implementations, we will create a language-agnostic testing framework. This framework will enable developers to test their implementations against the specification and verify that the behavior and functionality of the validators are consistent across different languages. By providing a standardized testing environment, we can identify any discrepancies or inconsistencies in the implementations, facilitating the improvement and refinement of the languages.

In addition to testing for equivalence, our framework will also measure the performance characteristics of the different implementations. This includes assessing factors such as script size and execution units. This information will be invaluable for optimizing the performance of smart contracts and making informed decisions regarding language selection based on specific performance requirements.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Cardano developers will have a reliable resource to compare the performance of different available tools and frameworks to develop Cardano dApps.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

The repository with all implementations, test suite, and benchmarks will be Free and Open Source.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

MLabs has proven itself as a company employing dozens of Haskell and PureScript software developers and delivering a number of Catalyst-funded projects in the past.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The main goal is to create a comprehensive report and comparison of Cardano smart contract languages to make the choice of development tools easier. The feasibility of our approach to achieve the goal will be evaluated by project managers and technical leadership of the project, based on time and budget constraints.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Milestone 1

• Write a specification of the validator

Milestone 2

• Implement a reference validator in Plutarch

Milestone 3

• Develop onchain language agnostic test suite to test the reference implementation and reuse it for other implementations

Milestone 4

• Implement equivalent validators in PlutusTx, Aiken, Opshin, etc.

Milestone 5

• Create automated pipelines to generate performance reports as used languages rapidly evolve. Compile a performance report document.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

We will deliver the specification of the validator to be later implemented in all benchmarked languages, all implementations will be open source and available on GitHub. Performance report and the methodology will be made public.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Planning and Design: 60 hours

Reference (plutarch) validator implementation: 80

Test suite: 160

Implementation in different languages: 160

Performance report: 40

Change budget: 100

Subtotal: 600 hours @95/hour = $57,000 USD

Total (@ rate $0.21 USD / ADA) = 271430 ADA

**In the interest of full transparency, please note we have applied a conservative USD/ADA exchange rate in pricing this proposal. This is to ensure our operations remain stable regardless of market conditions. Although we firmly believe the future of Cardano is bright, we recognize the price of ADA and all cryptocurrencies is inherently volatile. Our financial obligations are denominated in fiat. Most importantly, this includes the salary of our engineers whose hard work makes projects like this possible. 

In the unlikely scenario of severe negative price movement beyond our forecasted rate, it is possible that MLabs may need to temporarily suspend work on this proposal until the market recovers. Rest assured, this decision would be made solely to protect our business's long-term viability and never taken lightly. 

We appreciate your understanding and support, and we are excited to see what we can achieve together.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The key to success lies in making informed decisions at the early stages of a project. Our goal is to minimize risks for Cardano builders by offering them a comprehensive understanding of how these foundational technologies perform in any Cardano dApp project.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.