Partnership extension enables Python programming for blockchain and IoT applications

RS Components has announced an extension to the capabilities of its DesignSpark Zerynth Studio middleware toolkit, with its partnership with Zerynth. Members of the DesignSpark engineering community are now able to use Python to program microcontrollers for blockchain and IoT applications through the Zerynth Studio suite, which can be downloaded free of charge via a unique portal on the DesignSpark website. The toolkit allows fast IoT application development, with high-level standards of security, as developers can program in Python or a hybrid C/Python language on popular 32-bit microcontrollers and connect them to cloud infrastructures. The move opens up Zerynth for IoT applications and embedded development to the large community of programmers using Python, which is extensively used with the Raspberry Pi single board computer, for example. "Having the possibility to generate, sign and send transactions from the inside of a microcontroller enables any device capable of running the cryptography algorithms to directly take advantage of smart contracts, removing centralised gateways and points of failure,” said Giacomo Baldi, CTO of Zerynth. “This can be applied to many different fields, and increases trust between consumers and third parties.” Mike Bray, vice president of DesignSpark, added: “Zerynth gives our users access to one of the most intuitive programming studios available, supporting their new designs. The addition of the new feature set supporting blockchain and crypto-currency transactions expands the capabilities of the platform, placing Zerynth at the forefront of new application development and programming. We’re delighted to have made another significant addition to the tools and resources available to our DesignSpark community.”