Compact Language: Powering Smart Contracts on Midnight with Kevin Millikin

Update: 2024-08-22

Description

In this episode of Unshielded: A Blockchain & Data Podcast by Midnight, host Anthony Day connects with Kevin Millikin, Principal Architect for Midnight. Join them as they discuss:

An under-the-hood look at Compact as a programming language
Why Midnight needs its own language, and the importance of great developer experience. Kevin highlights the differences in working with Blockchain technology
A live demo of Compact language by showcasing the code for a bulletin board app
Compact roadmap: Aligning more closely with TypeScript
Why developers need to join the Midnight Discord channel
The need to innovate in decentralized applications

Kevin Millikin is a seasoned software architect specializing in programming language design and implementation. Currently, at Midnight, he is instrumental in developing a cutting-edge data protection blockchain platform. This innovative platform leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to ensure secure computations while maintaining privacy. Kevin's work focuses on designing a domain-specific language (DSL) for smart contracts, creating a compiler targeting JavaScript, and developing a custom virtual machine runtime for on-chain computations. His expertise extends to building support libraries, developer tools, and the overall architecture that drives this privacy-focused blockchain solution.

Kevin has also worked at Google and Deep Mind and, while there, worked on an experimental Python optimizing JIT compiler using the CPython interpreter and runtime. This was open-sourced as S6 (https://github.com/google-deepmind/s6). He also worked on Alphabet-internal Python development tools, including Python static typing and static analysis of Python programs.

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Episode Resources:

Kevin on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-millikin-89a235/
Midnight Network: Midnight Network
IOHK Website: https://iohk.io/

This episode is brought to you by Midnight.

To learn more about the Midnight Network, visit the website at https://midnight.network/
Join the Midnight Discord: https://discord.com/invite/midnightnetwork

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