Saito Tech Update – November 2, 2021

Prior to our roadmap release we wanted to push out a quick update on what is happening behind the scenes here since it’s the beginning of November and we know people are expecting it. Our roadmap WILL be released soon. Reason for the delay is primarily the Web3 work described below, and also because we want to get decent polish on the document since we know it will be a GOTO for a lot of newcomers.

As those who’ve been watching our git commits will have noticed, for the last three weeks we’ve been doing a lot of work getting Milestone #2 for the Web3 Foundation completed and submitted. We originally had this work in wait-mode because of delays with the DOT parachain auctions. We got a ping asking for submission however so pushed ahead with getting it out of the way. The submission is now done and waiting on the Web3 Foundation.

As part of the updates involving this work, Arcade users should notice improvements to many of the open source games. The improvements include updates to basic game components (the user controls, card fans, card lists, popup overlays). We’re also pleased to have help on the gaming front from a new developer in Texas we are hoping will continue to work with us to improve our front-end look-and-feel across all of the other applications moving forward.

Development in Rust is continuing apace. For those curious about the state of development there, we currently have most of the consensus-touching parts of the codebase implemented with test coverage. The outstanding work remains in the networking code. The API that specifies how data is transmitted is mostly complete, although not entirely tested, and the outstanding work is largely in connecting this API up to the rest of the software so the client can send and receive blocks and transactions as we produce them or receive them from other peers. We also still need to get the client signing blocks and transactions.

Given that the Rust version of Saito involves consensus-breaking changes to how blocks are validated, we have started a rewrite of the Saito-Lite (in-browser) client to bring it into consistency. Rather than simply hack-up the existing codebase, we are engaged in a more comprehensive re-write that cleans up the codebase and bring it into stronger alignment with Rust. This is easier work but it is still a tremendous amount of work. So a lot is happening behind the scenes. We are hoping that what this gets us is not one but two reasonably easy-to-read implementations of Saito Consensus. How quickly we can “flick-the-switch” and move the current testnet over to our new software clients will depend on how the inter-client testing work goes.

On a final note, we are excited about the upcoming roadmap update and getting you all more details and a refined vision for the project. The view beyond this is what we call “web3” and we’re planning to talk about this during the Saito Townhall. If you want the heads-up in advance of the rest of the world please come, or fire off questions to @SaitoOfficial on Twitter and we’ll try to get them answered.