Microsoft is making it easier for millions of developers to start building stuff with Ethereum by adding its programming language, Solidity, into Visual Studio (Visual Studio is to computer programmers what Microsoft Word is to journalists).

Ethereum has emerged as the most exciting decentralised peer-to-peer technology platform where users can start creating anything in a peer-to-peer/decentralised manner such as legal agreements, accounting records, governance systems, lending markets, gaming etc.

The NYC-based Ethereum development studio ConsenSys collaborated with Microsoft on this integration, which will be formally revealed at //Build, in San Francisco on March 29th-April 2nd, where co-founders of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin will be in attendance.

Solidity is a javascript-like programming language designed for developing smart contract programs that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Solidity is compiled to bytecode that is executable on the EVM. Using Solidity, developers can write applications that implement self-enforcing business logic embodied in smart contracts, leaving a non-repudiable and authoritative record of transactions.

Visual Studio is a rich, integrated development environment for creating applications for Windows, Android, and iOS, as well as modern web applications and cloud services. The integration of Solidity in Visual Studio represents another step towards a new computing paradigm, bringing the power of decentralised applications to the most powerful development platform available, said a statement issued by ConsenSys.

Marley Gray, director of BizDev & Strategy for Blockchain at Microsoft Corp., said: "This integration with Visual Studio will offer developers enterprise-grade solutions with advanced capabilities for teams working on blockchain Smart Contract projects of any size and complexity. We are excited to continue to support the development and innovation of the distributed ledger ecosystem."

Vitalik Buterin, inventor of Ethereum said, "Making it easier for developers to build applications on top of Ethereum through developer tools has always been one of our primary interests and focuses, and the integration of Solidity in Visual Studio will help bring Ethereum to a very large developer community. I am looking forward to seeing the results that this collaboration will bring."

Joseph Lubin, Co-Founder of Ethereum, Founder of ConsenSys, added: "ConsenSys has been working closely with Microsoft to bring Ethereum-focused development tools to the immense and diverse developer community of Microsoft. Solidity is a high-level language for programming the smart contract elements of decentralized applications on Ethereum.

"Today we are pleased to announce that it is now possible to program Solidity smart contracts in one of the industry's most pervasive, capable and elegant integrated development environments, Visual Studio.

This advancement will enable millions of developers to more easily deploy smart contracts on Ethereum blockchains — private or consortium — as well as public Ethereum network nodes. With single click deployment of Ethereum blockchains on the Microsoft Azure cloud available, and integrated development in Visual Studio, smart contract and decentralized application developers can get to work on their applications immediately without having to deal with the complexity of first standing up a development blockchain."

Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise said: "Microsoft has been an excellent partner of ConsenSys and evangelist for Ethereum. Solidity integration in Visual Studio will serve as another step towards drastically reducing the barriers to entry of rapid blockchain prototyping for millions of developers. Unveiling this offering at Microsoft's //Build conference is the perfect venue to educate enterprises on the value of the Ethereum blockchain."