rholang

Rholang Developer Reference

Verified against the f1r3node-rust implementation (Rust shard).

Reading Order

Fundamentals

1. Language Overview -- Process calculus, names vs processes, core model
2. Syntax Reference -- Complete syntax for all language constructs
3. Data Types -- Primitives, strings, byte arrays, URIs, booleans
4. Operators -- Arithmetic, comparison, logical, string, interpolation

Types and Collections

5. Pattern Matching -- Patterns, connectives, destructuring, type guards
6. Collections -- Lists, tuples, sets, maps with all methods
7. PathMaps and Zippers -- Hierarchical trie structures and navigation
8. Numeric Types -- Float, BigInt, BigRat, FixedPoint

Concurrency and State

9. Channels and Concurrency -- Send, receive, persistent, peek, join, parallel
10. Contracts and State -- Contract patterns, mutable cells, CRUD

Platform

11. System Channels -- All rho:* URIs: I/O, crypto, registry, vaults, AI
12. Registry -- Registry operations, TreeHashMap, URI generation
13. Vaults and Tokens -- SystemVault, MakeMint, transfers, auth keys
14. Cost Model -- Phlogiston accounting, cost functions, gas scaling

Patterns and Practice

15. Design Patterns -- Security, capabilities, common idioms
16. Rhox Macros -- .rhox template format
17. Testing with RhoSpec -- Test framework, writing contract tests
18. Deployment Workflow -- Deploy, propose, finalize, exploratory deploy
19. Real-World Applications -- Embers template system, production patterns

Internal Reference

• Crate Overview -- Interpreter crate architecture, compilation pipeline, system processes
• Language Analysis -- Analysis of 88 .rho files: patterns, complexity levels, compiler implications

Legacy Tutorials (from RChain era -- core concepts still valid)

• Rholang Tutorial -- Foundational language tutorial
• Pattern Matching Tutorial -- Deep dive into matching semantics
• Ollama Integration -- Local LLM integration guide

Examples

Working examples are in rholang/examples/:

File	Topic
tut-hello.rho	Contracts, channels, ack pattern
tut-lists-methods.rho	List operations
tut-maps-methods.rho	Map operations
tut-sets-methods.rho	Set operations
tut-strings-methods.rho	String operations
tut-pathmap-all-methods.rho	PathMap operations
tut-pathmap-zippers.rho	Zipper navigation (18 examples)
tut-hash-functions.rho	SHA256, Blake2b, Keccak256
tut-registry.rho	Registry insert/lookup
tut-philosophers.rho	Dining philosophers (concurrency)
numeric-types.rho	BigInt, BigRat, Float, FixedPoint
user-crud-example.rho	Full CRUD with mutable state
vault_demo/	Vault address, balance, transfer

System Contracts

Production contracts are in casper/src/main/resources/:

File	Purpose
Registry.rho	Registry + TreeHashMap implementation
SystemVault.rho	Fund management and transfers
MakeMint.rho	Token/currency factory
ListOps.rho	Functional list operations library
Either.rho	Either monad (success/failure)
Stack.rho	LIFO stack data structure
NonNegativeNumber.rho	Constrained non-negative integers
AuthKey.rho	Authentication key management
MultiSigSystemVault.rho	Multi-signature vault
PoS.rhox	Proof-of-Stake validator contract (macro)

Test Suites

Sophisticated contract tests in casper/src/test/resources/ using the RhoSpec framework. See Testing with RhoSpec.