Beginner Guides
Welcome to the Beginner Guides section! This area contains step-by-step guides designed for developers who are new to Cardano and blockchain development.
Essential Resources: Before diving into these guides, familiarize yourself with docs.cardano.org and developers.cardano.org, especially the new AI-augmented search functionality for finding answers quickly.
Current Guides
Getting Started with Cardano
- Address Management - Understanding Cardano addresses (Official docs | Developer fundamentals)
- How to Create Address - Step-by-step address creation (Based on PPBL 102.1)
- Inputs and Outputs - Understanding transaction structure (See Module 102 in Plutus PBL for deeper understanding. For advanced understanding, consider learning basic Category Theory - types correspond to objects, functions to morphisms)
Coming Soon
- Setting up your first development environment
- Creating your first transaction
- Understanding UTXOs and transaction building
- Introduction to native tokens
- Basic wallet operations
- Version Control for Cardano Development - Essential Git practices and workflows (IOG VCS Guidelines)
- Security Best Practices - Fundamental security practices for Cardano developers (IOG Security Handbook)
Prerequisites
Before diving into these guides, ensure you have:
- Basic understanding of command-line interface
- Familiarity with blockchain concepts
- Familiarity with docs.cardano.org and developers.cardano.org
- A computer with internet access
- Willingness to learn!
Getting Help
If you get stuck while following these guides:
- Check the troubleshooting section in each guide
- Join our Discord: First become a member at Intersect and register at members.intersectmbo.org. After joining, you'll get access to our Discord community's #developer-experience channel
- Community Forums and Channels:
- Cardano Forum - Official community discussions
- IOG Technical Discord - Technical support from IOG
- Gimbalabs Discord - Developer-focused community
- Cardano Stack Exchange - Q&A format (Note: Check recent activity and response times before posting)
- Attend our Working Group: See Working Group sessions
Contributing
Found an issue or want to improve a guide? See our Contributing Guidelines for how to help make these resources better.
Ready to dive deeper? Check out our Intermediate Guides when you're comfortable with the basics.