Conceptualizing PyTeal for Application Development

I have a few questions about how to work with PyTeal to create application IDs on Algorand.

  1. What are the fundamental requirements for creating a smart contract with an on-chain ID to handle user application requests?
  2. How can on-chain applications interact with user front-end interfaces, such as a react app?
  3. What is the structure of TEAL code, how can the logic of the byte-code be understood conceptually to allow developers to understand the syntax requirements?
  4. Do on-chain smart contracts typically have private keys associated for control?
  5. What is the most common interface or mechanism for submitting code for an on-chain application smart contract to the Algorand blockchain?

Thank you!

One thing I want to note is that PyTeal generates TEAL. When this happens the TEAL script needs to be deployed to the blockchain from a node using the goal command line interface. One ongoing problem is a lack of effective mechanisms for running goal from the CLI. Here is an Issue I am working through regarding this problem. This problem is especially prevalent on Mac computers with the M1 chip, which often have inherent pathing problems.

This is how i use to deploy with one bash script:

Build teal

Deply contract

Create tx

Sign tx and send to network

Fund account with minimum balance

Configure smart contract with app calls

I am it is possible to do it with goal cli commands but if you code in some language it is much easier to do it this way.

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You should also take a look at Algokit, the Explore command runs Dappflow, “a web-based user interface that let’s you visualise an Algorand network and deploy and call smart contracts via a graphical user interface”
It comes in handy for deploying and testing smart contracts in sandbox, testnet or even mainnet.

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I do not understand how/why DAppFlow changed from the open source to closed source app… I believe core infrastructure should be open source… DAppFlow was first open source explorer, algorand foundation put it into algokit, and then they changed it to closed source?

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