A comprehensive course for building Cardano applications with Mesh SDK and Aiken smart contracts.

Master Cardano development through hands-on lessons. Each lesson builds on the previous one, taking you from basic wallet operations to advanced smart contract development.

What You Will Learn

By completing this course, you will be able to:

Build Cardano dApps using the Mesh SDK
Create and deploy Aiken smart contracts
Construct transactions and integrate wallet functionality
Test and optimize smart contracts for production
Mint NFTs and manage tokens on Cardano
Implement Layer 2 scaling solutions with Hydra

Prerequisites

Before starting this course, ensure you have:

Node.js v20+ installed on your machine
Basic understanding of TypeScript/JavaScript
A code editor (VS Code recommended)
Familiarity with blockchain concepts (helpful but not required)

Course Structure

Getting Started

Start here if you are new to Cardano development:

Lesson 1: Hello World - Set up Mesh SDK, create a wallet, and send your first transaction
Lesson 2: Multi-signature Transactions - Build transactions that require multiple signers

Smart Contract Development

Learn the fundamentals of Aiken smart contract development:

Lesson 3: Aiken Contracts - Understand transaction contexts, validators, and script types
Lesson 4: Contract Testing - Write comprehensive tests using mock transactions
Lesson 5: Avoid Redundant Validation - Optimize contracts by centralizing validation logic
Lesson 6: Interpreting Blueprint - Generate offchain code from Aiken blueprints

Advanced Contracts

Build production-ready smart contracts:

Lesson 7: Vesting Contract - Create a time-locked fund release contract
Lesson 8: Plutus NFT Contract - Mint unique NFTs with auto-incrementing indices

Scaling and Services

Explore Layer 2 solutions and Web3 services:

Lesson 9: Hydra End-to-End - Implement state channels with the Hydra Head protocol
Lesson 10: Web3 Services - Integrate wallet-as-a-service and transaction sponsorship

Estimated Time

Total course duration: 8-12 hours
Per lesson: 30-60 minutes

Get Help

If you encounter issues or have questions:

Ready to start? Begin with Lesson 1: Hello World.

Cardano Development Course