<h1 id="askv04report">Ask! v0.4 Report</h1>
<p>First of all, sorry for the delayed report of Ask! v0.4 (<a href="949">proposal</a>). Actually, we had released Ask! v0.4.0-rc1 (the latest version is 0.4.0-rc3) in August, since Ask! v0.4 is based on a new architecture, so we wanted to let developers try it out firstly and give us some feedback. After fixing some bugs, now I think it's time to release the report.</p>
<h2 id="sourcecodeanddocumentation">Source code and documentation</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/ask">ask</a>: Source code of Ask! v0.4</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/ask-template">ask-template</a>: A template for creating an Ask! v0.4 contract project.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://ask-lang.github.io/ask-docs/">ask-docs</a>: Documentation of Ask! v0.4</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/serde-as">as-serde</a>: A simple (de)serialization framework for AssemblyScript</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/serde-as/blob/main/packages/as-serde-scale/README.md">as-serde-scale</a>: SCALE (de)serialization library based on as-serde framework.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/serde-as/blob/main/packages/as-serde-json/README.md">as-serde-json</a>: JSON (de)serialization library based on as-serde framework.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="newdesignandimplementation">New design and implementation</h2>
<p>In Ask! v0.4, we use a new architecture to design contract compilation and generation. And based on the new architecture, we redesigned the contract syntax that closer to ink! v3. In addition we also use a new and higher performance scale codec library constructed by ourselves.</p>
<h3 id="architecture">Architecture</h3>
<p>Compiling a wasm smart contract with Ask! v0.3 actually goes through <strong>TWO</strong> compilation processes.</p>
<p>In the first compilation process, Ask! v0.3 only checks the contract syntax, and then checks the specific type and semantics for the second time. The final assemblyscript code is generated by splicing strings, which also results in very poor readability of the generated code, and error messages are difficult to locate the problem. Even some obviously wrong contract code can pass the compilation check and generate wasm.</p>
<p>Although Ask! v0.3 introduced ask-cli, which is similar to the cargo-contract role in ink, to partially solve the two compilation problem, in the process of using it, we found that the <code>original architecture + ask-cli</code> is not elegant, and ask-cli itself requires additional learning costs for contract developers.</p>
<p>After some investigation and simple verification, we use a simpler architecture to compile and generate the wasm contract code: manipulate the AST generated by the contract code through the assemblyscript toolchain to get final wasm code and metadata, without introducing additional tools (like <code>ask-cli</code> or <code>cargo-contract</code>) to help development of wasm contracts.</p>
<p>In this way, the generated assemblyscript code has better readability, and the type checking and error messages have been greatly improved. And the contract development will only involve the assemblyscript toolchain and Ask! contract syntax.</p>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1"><colgroup><col style="width: 33.304%;"><col style="width: 33.304%;"><col style="width: 33.304%;"></colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td style="text-align: left;"><strong>Ask! </strong>v0.3</td>
<td style="text-align: left;"><strong>Ask! </strong>v0.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Components</td>
<td>
<p>1. Contract Framework</p>
<p>2. Contract Preprocessor</p>
<p>3. ask-cli</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>1. Contract Framework</p>
<p>2. Transform Framework</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Learning Cost</td>
<td>
<p>1. assemblyscript toolchain</p>
<p>2. Ask contract syntax</p>
<p>3. ask-cli</p>
</td>
<td>
<p>1. assemblyscript toolchain</p>
<p>2. Ask contract syntax</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Codec Library</td>
<td>froked version of <a href="https://github.com/LimeChain/as-scale-codec">as-scale-codec</a></td>
<td>&nbsp;our new implementation: <a href="https://github.com/LimeChain/as-scale-codec">as-scale-codec</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>For more detailed usage, please refer to our&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/ask-template">template</a> and <a href="https://ask-lang.github.io/ask-docs/">documentation</a> .</p>
<h3 id="implementaionoptimization">Implementaion &amp;&amp; Optimization</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>Compilation &amp;&amp; Code generation</strong>: As mentioned above, now developers only need to use a package manager (<code>npm</code> or <code>yarn</code>) to import <code>assemblyscript</code> and <code>ask-transform</code> packages to develop Ask! contracts, and directly compile and generate wasm code and metadata through the assemblyscript toolchain. See <a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/ask-template">template</a> for details.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Contract framework</strong>: We have rewritten the contract syntax framework based on the new architecture. The current Ask! contract syntax still uses the decorator syntax, but it's closer to the procedural macro style of ink! v3.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Codec</strong>: Ask! v0.3 uses a forked version of <a href="https://github.com/LimeChain/as-scale-codec">as-scale-codec</a> (the upstream doesn't seem to be maintained anymore, last commit was a year ago) for SCALE encoding/decoding, but in Ask! v0.4, we create a new library <a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/serde-as/blob/main/packages/as-serde-scale/README.md">as-serde-scale</a>, compared with <a href="https://github.com/LimeChain/as-scale-codec">as-scale-codec</a>, <a href="https://github.com/ask-lang/serde-as/blob/main/packages/as-serde-scale/README.md">as-serde-scale</a> has better codec performance, more complete implementation, easy to use, and it's maintained by ourselves.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="compatibility">Compatibility</h3>
<p>We have synchronized the latest host functions of <a href="https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/tree/master/frame/contracts">pallet-contracts</a>, and the current syntax of Ask! v0.4 is also very close to ink! v3 style, developers can easily migrate contract code between ink! and Ask!. And the <code>metadata.json</code> generated by Ask! v0.4 is also compatible with the <code>metadata.json</code> generated by ink!.</p>
<h2 id="futureworks">Future works</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Upgrade <a href="https://github.com/AssemblyScript/assemblyscript">assemblyscript</a> toolchain to the latest</p>
<p>The current Ask! v0.4 is based on assemblyscript v0.19, and now the latest assemblyscript version is v0.22. Originally, we planned to use the latest version in Ask! v0.4, but some dependencies (<a href="https://github.com/as-pect/as-pect">as-pect</a>/<a href="https://github.com/as-pect/visitor-as">visitor-as</a>) of Ask! has not been upgraded to the latest assemblyscript. So in future versions we will consider upgrading to the latest assemblyscript toolchain, and even need to help maintain these dependencies.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Track the latest host functions of pallet-contracts</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>New storage design, compatible with ink! v4</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Simple contract test framework</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>More detailed documentation</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>More interesting and complex examples</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>&hellip;</p>
</li>
</ul>

- Ask! v0.4 has been released with a new architecture and improved performance.
- The source code and documentation for Ask! v0.4 can be found on GitHub.
- Ask! v0.4 uses a new design and implementation that is closer to ink! v3.
- The new architecture simplifies the compilation process and improves code readability.
- Future works include upgrading the assemblyscript toolchain and adding more features and documentation.

#1381 Report of Ask! v0.4