Cairo is a language for creating STARK-provable programs for general computation. Cairo powers Starknet and StarkEx, scaling applications on Mainnet, including dYdX, Sorare, ImmutableX, and more.

Cairo is the native smart contract language for Starknet, a permissionless decentralized Validity-Rollup.

Cairo is Rust-inspired, allowing developers to write Starknet smart contracts in a safe and convenient manner.

For every computation, it’s crucial to construct an Algebraic Intermediate Representation (AIR), which comprises a set of polynomial constraints that accurately represent the given computation. Initially coined as “CPU AIR,” Cairo is a virtual CPU and a singular AIR, capable of describing any computation with the same “generic” AIR.

There are different type of Cairo languages for example, the Cairo VM, CASM, Cairo Zero, Cairo, and Sierra.

Watch out for our next publication as we alight the differences between the Cairo languages