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Introduction
Ripple is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network for moving value using cryptographic technology. For more on the big picture, consult ripple.com and check out our blog.
Ripple Client Applications
The official web client for the Ripple Network is available at https://rippletrade.com/. There is also an official downloadable client at http://download.ripple.com/.
In order to activate your account, you must fund it with enough XRP to meet the account reserve (currently 20 XRP). You can do this in a few different ways:
- You can buy XRP with Bitcoins in the Ripple Trade client, under the Fund tab.
- You can have someone who is already on the network send a payment to your account's address.
- Keep an eye out for promotions that give away free XRP to developers.
Ripple APIs
If you intend to act as a gateway, or if you are a developer with great ideas of how to use the Ripple Network, you will probably want to build a custom client application that you or your customers can use to send, receive, or observe funds on the Ripple Network.
Connecting to the Ripple Network generally means communicating with the Ripple Server software, rippled (pronounced "ripple-dee"). To get started, you can try running a few calls to retrieve information from public servers using the Ripple API Tool or you try downloading and running your own instance of rippled.
If you are building your own client, you have several options of interfaces that you can use to interact with the Ripple Network:
| Tool | Summary | Interface | Abstraction Level | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gatewayd | Skeleton for implementing gateway functionality as a Node.js application | HTTP interface | Very high abstraction | ✓ Most functionality needed to operate a gateway is already implemented | ✗ Only intended for gateways ✗ Requires Node.js |
| Ripple-REST | RESTful interface to rippled as a Node.js application |
HTTP interface | High abstraction | ✓ Simple robust transaction submission ✓ Broad HTTP-client support |
✗ Lacks access to a few features like viewing currency exchange offers ✗ Requires Node.js |
| ripple-lib | Reference implementation for accessing the WebSocket API | Javascript library | Moderate abstraction | ✓ Simple robust transaction submission ✓ Good balance of simplicity and power |
✗ Javascript only (Clients for other languages are in progress) |
| rippled WebSocket API | Powerful, asynchronous API built on the WebSocket protocol | WebSocket interface | Low abstraction | ✓ Access to all Ripple functionality ✓ Can be pushed ordered stream data |
✗ Fewer convenient abstractions ✗ WebSocket clients are rare outside of Javascript |
| rippled JSON-RPC API | Powerful, synchronous API built on the JSON-RPC convention | HTTP interface | Low abstraction | ✓ Access to almost all Ripple functionality ✓ Broad HTTP-client support |
✗ Fewer convenient abstractions ✗ Callbacks may arrive out of order ✗ No incremental pathfinding |