I'm new to compiling solidity code, is there a way to make it easier/faster? I think I'm doing wrong

Question

1.- I connect to Geth to download the blockchain.

2.- Geth starts downloading.

3.- Once the chain is downloaded I open Mist wallet.

4.- Mist Wallet opens and there I can compile my contracts and test them.

But that is in an ideal scenario. The truth is that geth blockchain synchronization is really slow! It lasts days or even weeks, even using fast or light modes.

And then Mist sometimes just don't catch the geth sync and it sits doing nothing.

So my question is: I know that there must be another way to compile in mist (I still want to use mist, no truffle or any other thing). But there must be a more reasonable way, I can't beleive that every programmer using this method have to suffer this every time.

So, is there a way to connect mist to another geth instance or something online to use instead of a local always incomplete blockchain?

Or maybe the solution is in geth, is there a way to connect geth to an online blockchain instead of trying uselessly to download one to my local disk?

Probably it is a very basic quiestion, and I hope so, because I want to keep programming instead of suffering every day trying to sync the unsyncable.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

What you're looking at is a light client. A light client (unlike a full client) only downloads block headers and verify a small portion of what needs to be verified. However, this solution can still use most of the functions (send a transaction, check a balance).

Please find below a few documentation about light clients:

• Light-client-protocol

• introduction-light-client-dapp-developers

To do so, here's what you need:

1. Start geth in light mode --light

2. Start Ethereum-Wallet (Mist) with the following flag -node-light

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/!\ Light mode is experimental