04 — FAQ
FAQ
Who is this for?
Developers learning Solana seriously — you want to actually understand the official examples instead of copy-pasting them. Coming from web2 is the normal case: you already know how to program, Solana just has different physics — accounts instead of objects, programs that hold no state — and that shift is exactly what the books teach.
Do I need to know Rust?
Read The Rust Book for the language; read these for Solana. Basics help, mastery doesn't — if you can read a Rust function signature you can follow along, and the books explain the Rust idioms they use (ownership at account boundaries, traits, macros) as they appear. TypeScript shows up in the test suites at the same level.
Is this official?
No. An independent, unofficial companion to the official examples and documentation — not published by, and not speaking for, the Solana Foundation.
Is quoting the examples allowed?
Yes. solana-foundation/program-examples is MIT licensed, © 2026 Solana Foundation. Every excerpt is credited, pinned to the exact commit, and carries the copyright notice on each book's Licenses page. The book's own prose and diagrams are separately copyright Moviendome Limited.
Aren't there already Solana books?
Barely. What exists is a self-published title from 2022 — written before Anchor's big changes — some print-on-demand filler, and one chapter of a multi-chain Rust book. No major technical publisher has a Solana book at all. Rust developers got The Book; Solana developers got browser tabs. That gap is why this series exists.
How was it made?
Written with heavy AI assistance (Claude), directed and reviewed by a human author. Every program re-read from source at a pinned commit, every test quoted from the repository.
What can I buy today?
All four volumes. Basics — $9, and it assumes nothing — is the place to start. Tokens, Token Extensions and Frontiers build on it and are sold together as the complete series: $29 for all four. Start with Basics either way: the other three are written to build on it, and Frontiers opens by telling you it assumes all three.
Do I pay VAT?
Depends where you are. Gumroad is the merchant of record for these books, so it calculates, collects and remits any VAT or sales tax based on your country, and it is added at checkout. US buyers typically pay nothing; EU and UK buyers see their local rate. You get a proper invoice from Gumroad either way, which is what you need if you are expensing it.
What exactly do I get?
EPUB and PDF files of everything you buy, DRM-free, delivered by Gumroad — plus every future edition at no extra cost.
What happens when the examples change?
The series is pinned to an exact commit, and we track the official repository continuously. When it moves meaningfully, a new edition ships — and you already own it.
Why not just read the repository?
You should — these books exist to make that reading stick. The repository gives you the code; the books give you the order, the concepts, the diagrams, and the explanation the code doesn't carry.