Solidity is not the only language to work on Ethereum smart contracts; prior to solidity, there were other languages that were not as successful. Here is a brief list of languages currently (as of August 2018) compatible with Ethereum:
- Mutan: Inspired from Golang and deprecated in March 2015.
- LLL: Short for lisp-like language. While it is still supported, it is rarely used.
- Serpent: While this language is similar to Python, it is no longer recommended for use.
- Solidity: The fourth language introduced by the Ethereum foundation, and so far the most successful language for developing smart contracts. It is the most documented, stable, and has a large community support.
- Vyper: Newly introduced, much simpler and easier than Solidity, although it does not have much community support yet. It is influenced by Python.
Solidity is also known as a contract-oriented...