The Cartesi Foundation today announced the launch of the Decartes software development kit and developer portal to enable developers to build distributed ledger blockchain apps using the Linux operating system.

The SDK, which is currently an alpha test version, will allow developers to use mainstream software and libraries to develop distributed apps, or dapps, more easily while also keeping the security and capabilities of the blockchain.

“The SDK launch will allow developers who are already in the blockchain space to perform heavy computations and to get the convenience and the tools they were lacking before,” said Erick Demoura, co-founder and chief executive of Cartesi. “Our vision is to make it possible, in the future, for any developer to build on top of Cartesi, to remove the boundaries and to make broad adoption of dapps a reality.”

Cartesi hopes that by supplying an SDK, developers will find it easier to develop dapps by making use of software stacks and coding languages they are most familiar with. Using Decartes, and the Cartesi infrastructure, blockchain developers will not need to sacrifice decentralization in order to use mainstream libraries for development.

Alongside the Decartes SDK, Cartesi has also launched a developer portal that will give access to the Cartesi ecosystem to create unique dapps. Using Decartes and Cartesi, developers can learn exactly how to develop and deploy dapps within the ecosystem, unlock massive computational resources within Linux, and use mainstream software stacks and libraries to build complex logic.

Developers will also have access to mature, mainstream “zero-knowledge” libraries that compile in Linux. The SDK also provides smart contract access to file systems to read, modify, process, compress and decompress files. This is all done in a decentralized way among dapp participants, while still retaining the security guarantees of the blockchain.

In the case of Cartesi, developers will use Ethereum, a public blockchain that is second only to the biggest blockchain, bitcoin. Ethereum was developed for business use and enables the use of powerful smart contracts, which are programmable agreements between parties that execute under specific conditions.

The Cartesi platform can be seen in action today by playing Creepts Tower Defense, a dapp tower defense game built using the software. Creepts provides a proof-of-concept for the technology.

The Decartes SDK is available today at the Cartesi website and the developer documentation portal is also publicly viewable.

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