From eeeeafc0fde270b56e8d125327b87b324123b6fb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastian Nagel Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2024 09:46:12 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Write first Why section --- src/introduction.md | 9 +++++++++ 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+) diff --git a/src/introduction.md b/src/introduction.md index dcd9541..fe988d8 100644 --- a/src/introduction.md +++ b/src/introduction.md @@ -4,3 +4,12 @@ This document is an exploration on the `cardano-node` architecture and how it co ## Why +The Cardano Node was developed over the last 5+ years as the reference implementations of the Ouroboros consensus, extended UTxO (eUTxO) account model and plutus smart contract language at Input Output Group (IOG, or just IO). + +While based on peer-reviewed research and significant engineering efforts in ensuring correctness through formal methods with extensive testing, the codebase is largely opaque for non-IO Cardano developers and definitely unused outside of the Cardano ecosystem. For example, it is concerning that even IO's sister projects to Cardano like Midnight and Partner-Chains were reaching to other frameworks to build their blockchain components, despite building sidechains of Cardano. + +Making the ways the Cardano node is built **more approachable** to a wider developer community would not only improve development capacity, but also enable maintenance to outlive the current company & team structures. Furthermore, if we could make the components of the Cardano node be re-used **more flexibly** in diverse scenarios, this would lead to a richer feature-set. + +After all, software quality is not only about rigor and testing, but also "how easy a system can be changed". + +