Summary of Project Goguen (June 2018) Update

Gerard Moroney, project manager at IOHK, gives us the June update for Project Goguen. He starts off by explaining why the June update has come out a little later than usual, which is because there has been a lot going on! Excitement has been building in terms of what the team is doing and with the desire to get it out to get the community’s feedback. :slight_smile:

Recap

  • Project Goguen is all about smart contracts
  • its goal is to deliver smart contract (SC) capability for the Cardano computational layer (CL)
  • its workstreams include: sidechains, accounting, multi-currency, Plutus, Marlowe, IELE, end-user and external developer integration
  • and the output they are aiming for will include: Computational layer, tools, training and documentation

Project Update (Progress in the last month)

  • Sidechains, Accounting, Multi-Currency – this area has been progressing well, and they are now at the formal methods stage where models and prototypes will be turned into code
  • Plutus – have completed the design and proofs of Plutus core language, this consists of the format in which Plutus smart contracts are recorded on the blockchain
  • will be implementing the first part of the Haskell library for processing Plutus code into the compiler and VM
  • Marlowe – have been developing Marlowe online editor that allows you to generate Marlowe smart contracts by using a subset of Haskell
  • have conducted analysis that allows you to see possible outcomes of a contract and to ensure you have enough money committed to satisfy payments no matter what happens during execution (this is an important feature for creating usable, financial smart contracts)
  • IELE – work with partners at Runtime Verification has been progressing at a very rapid pace
  • the Goguen team and Charles Hoskinson went to Champaign, Illinois where RV is based for a productive meeting where they got demonstrations of the IELE virtual machine
  • IELE testnet is now in the process of getting ready for launch and the team is creating a lot of content/education material to help you experience the testnet when its launched
  • have also been over to Oxford to record a series of presentations and interviews to give you context about IELE, the technology behind it and where its headed in the future
  • End-user & External Developers – there is a new product manager who has started with IOHK and they will go into deep detail of the needs of the developers when it comes to smart contracts
  • Integration – have the architecture and integration plan that has been approved by the engineering team and now most of the work is concerned with formal methods
  • Technical Documentation & Education – IOHK has a rigorous process when it comes to creating content that benefits the community. The education team alongside Marketing & Comms have worked especially hard lately to prepare content for the IELE testnet launch.
  • but they have an agile approach, so if there was anything missing with the KEVM testnet in terms of content, please let IOHK know
  • Quality Assurance – the QA team works hard in collaboration with the developers to ensure the delivered software is high quality. They have been working to make sure that there is a comprehensive test suite for the IELE component.
  • QA is also introducing threat models and abuse cases. This means they look at different scenarios where there could be problems and find test cases to make sure these are being addressed in the code
  • Marketing & External Communications – This team handles communications with the community. Gerard is working with them more and more to properly communicate the technology and the progress with all of you.

Feedback

  • Other things the team is discovering has been from the community
  • There is a need for better understanding of the smart contract developers
  • They are making plans to take this to the road to get better engagement and feedback through conferences and hackathons
  • They will continue to work on the testnet site and will be adding education material to help users understand the IELE testnet
  • IOHK will also be hiring full-time community managers to support testnet users and to ensure feedback helps the Project Goguen team build better software

Important Dates

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Thank you for sharing.

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“understnaindg” spelling mistake under Feedback section.

Great update, answers most of our questions. Thanks.

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Thanks! I have corrected this :slight_smile: