Dev resource page: "Indexing and querying"

[wackerow]

Resurfaced from @samajammin's post #1564. This is an old issue at this point, but still raises a topic that could use some additional love, attention and support on the site. Re-opening for fresh discussion here.

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We could use a developer resource around the topic of indexing & querying Ethereum blockchain data. As part of an initiative to expand content resources for developers, we need domain experts who can help write these resources!

Why? As discussed in https://github.com/ethereum/ethereum-org-website/pull/1529#discussion_r498351878 ... 1) This is a common challenge for dapp developers. Smart contract view functions & client APIs can only do so much. 2) There are projects (like The Graph mentioned in that PR) that help developers solve these problems but don't really fit the definition of a "framework" & don't really belong on our framework page.

What?

This page is an "entry-level" overview of indexing and querying blockchain data – why it's useful, how it's accomplished and how it's relevant to building a dapp. This page should be as agnostic as possible when it comes to the languages & tools used (showing examples of multiple approaches is always a great solution to this).

Here is a loose template to follow.

Not sure "indexing and querying" is the best name for this topic - I welcome input & ideas on this!

Acceptance criteria

• There are clear prerequisites as per the template
• No knowledge is assumed, so concepts are explained or linked out to explanations
• Relevant tools / resources are explained and examples are provided when necessary
• Content is clearly separated into manageable sections with clear headers (h2s and h3s)
• There are links to further reading for those that want to learn more
• There are links to related topics within the ethereum.org developers section
• As a new dapp buidler, I understand how to use upgradeable smart contracts when developing my dapp after reading this

Bonus points

• Link to this page from wherever relevant across the site! e.g. are there tutorials or other documentation pages that reference this topic? Add a link!

How to contribute

• Create an index.md files insrc > content > docs > indexing-and-querying
• Add the page under the "Data and analytics" section of our docs links
• Submit PRs to the dev branch
• More on the contribution process

Useful references/resources

• https://thegraph.com/
• https://amberdata.io/
• https://aleth.io/
• We welcome others!

[wackerow]

Hey @AnmolSirola or @meera! Just pinging you over here since I see you had both previously expressed some interest in this on the old issue (#1564)... resurfacing this issue as it's grown stale at the end of the list, though still would hold value. Let us know if either of you are interested in working on this

[AnmolSirola]

@wackerow I'm still interested in this issue and would love to contribute to it.

[wackerow]

Great! Thanks @AnmolSirola, just assigned you... Note some of the spec suggestions Sam had in the original post (pasted in original post above) and let us know if you have any questions or need a hand with anything.

It can sometimes help to just work on an outline first and post as a draft PR to get some feedback before committing too much time to the end product, which I would suggest. Feel free to hop in our Discord if needed as well

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 45 days with no activity.

[wackerow]

Hey @AnmolSirola, just circling back! Let us know if you're still interested in this. Have opened it up in the meantime if anyone else is interested.