Exploring the Move Language and Its Applications in Web3

Recently, we had a conversation with Sam Blackshear, the Chief Technology Officer of Mysten Labs and the founder of the Move programming language, discussing why he developed Sui Move, a new type of smart contract programming language, the scalability of Sui, and the advantages of decentralized technology for developers.

The following is a summary of the interview content:

The Essence of Programming Languages and the Birth of Move

Programming languages are tools for clear, safe, and efficient interaction with computers. Unlike natural languages, programming languages require precisely defined semantics. Different programming languages are designed for specific domains or tasks.

Move originated from Facebook's Libra project. After studying existing smart contracts, Blackshear found that they disappointed developers in certain aspects. Smart contracts primarily define asset types and their transfer rules, as well as check access control policies. Move aims to provide a good abstraction for these fundamental functions, allowing programmers to code safely and efficiently.

Characteristics of Sui Move and its Advantages in Web3

Sui Move is a variant of Move, with the main changes including:

1. The restrictions designed for compliant payments in the original Move have been removed.
2. Introduced an object-oriented data model, simplifying the asset handling process.
3. Programmable trading blocks have been implemented, allowing multiple operations to be executed in a single transaction.

These features make Sui Move particularly suitable for building Web3 products:

• More flexible asset management
• Simplified programming model
• Supports complex atomic operations
• Reduce gas fees
• Reduce the number of user approvals

Design Philosophy and Scalability of Sui

The goal of Sui is to achieve horizontal scalability, avoiding a decline in user experience due to capacity limitations. Its object-oriented data model organizes global state as a mapping from object IDs to objects, facilitating scalability.

The design of Sui aims to achieve low latency, low cost, and high scalability to support the mass adoption of Web3.

The Potential of Decentralized Technology

Blockchain and cryptocurrency are essentially frictionless technologies that can eliminate barriers to the transmission of information and value. They have the potential to change the way financial transactions, application development, and information sharing are conducted, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

The Future Development of Sui Move

The future development direction of Sui Move includes:

• Flexibility in enhancing package upgrades and expansions
• Introduce new features such as enumeration types
• Improve the integration of Move with the frontend code
• Increase the proportion of Move code in the application
• Simplify the development and understanding of Move programs

Overall, Sui Move is committed to providing a safer and more efficient programming experience for Web3 developers, while continuously adapting to the needs and feedback of developers.