Where Ethereum prices blockspace like real estate, Solana engineered for throughput: a single global state, parallel execution, and fees low enough that a game or a payment rail can put every action on-chain. The tradeoff is a different security and hardware profile, plus a younger, sharper-edged toolchain.
Programs are stateless and accounts carry the data — the model that makes Solana fast is also the thing newcomers trip on. Anchor is the framework most serious development happens in, because raw Solana programs are unforgiving about checks you forgot to write.
Related terms
Anchor
The Rust framework for Solana programs — generates the boilerplate and enforces the checks raw Solana development makes easy to forget.
PDA
Program-derived address — a Solana account whose address is computed from seeds, owned by a program, with no private key to steal.
Smart contract
A program deployed to a blockchain that runs exactly as written, that anyone can call, and that usually cannot be changed afterwards.
The bench this belongs to
BlockchainSolidity on Ethereum, Polygon, Base and Arbitrum. Anchor programs on Solana. Written with tests first, because a redeploy is not a hotfix once value is on the line.
