Blockchain Developer Certification Practice

Which of the following function types is synonymous with 'view'?

1. Payable

2. Private

3. Constant

4. Public

The correct answer is: Constant

The term 'view' in the context of smart contracts, particularly in Ethereum's Solidity programming language, refers to a specific type of function that allows reading the state of the blockchain without altering any data. Functions declared as 'view' are designed to provide data to users without causing any changes in the contract's state or consuming gas when called externally. 'Constant' is synonymous with 'view' as it originally referred to functions that do the same thing—reading state without modifying it. Although 'constant' is generally seen as a legacy term that has been largely replaced by 'view' in newer versions of Solidity, both terms have the same core functionality: they guarantee that the execution won't change the state of the contract. To summarize, understanding 'view' functions is essential in smart contract development as they play a critical role in retrieving information efficiently and without cost. This reinforces the choice of 'constant' as the answer, as both terms essentially convey the intention of not modifying contract state during execution.