Decentralized applications (dApps) are becoming increasingly popular among businesses and developers who want to take advantage of blockchain networks. However, creating dApps can be complex and time-consuming.

To simplify the process, developers can use frameworks that provide tools and functionalities to test, compile, deploy, and debug their applications. This article examines the Cardano ecosystem and its smart contract framework, Plutus, which is a high-level, functional programming language designed for developing smart contracts. Plutus offers robust support for formal verification, which enhances the security and reliability of smart contracts.

Additionally, Plutus smart contracts must be paired with an off-chain framework, or a Plutus Application Backend (PAB), which is responsible for executing the dApp logic and providing necessary functionality to interact with the Cardano blockchain.

There are several PAB solutions available, including IOG PAB, Atlas, Lucid, and Mesh, which is a new smart contract evaluation tool developed by Martify that is based on JavaScript and is web-friendly. The availability of these PAB frameworks significantly reduces the barrier to entry into the Cardano ecosystem and makes dApp development faster and more streamlined for developers.