Introduction

This guide assumes you already know how to read Solidity code and reason about EVM contracts. The goal is not to re-teach blockchain basics. The goal is to remap your instincts to Aptos.

What changes first

• Authorization moves from implicit msg.sender checks to explicit &signer parameters.
• Storage moves from contract-owned slots and mappings to resources and objects in global storage.
• Tokens move from contract-per-asset standards to framework-backed asset standards like Fungible Asset and Digital Asset.
• Frontend flows move from Ethers contract instances to the @aptos-labs/ts-sdk plus Wallet Adapter.

Events in Move

Solidity declares events directly in the contract:

event MessageAdded(address sender, string message, uint256 addedAt);

Move treats events as structs annotated with #[event], then emits them with event::emit:

use 0x1::event;
use std::string::String;

#[event]
struct MessageAdded has drop, store {
    sender: address,
    message: String,
    added_at: u64,
}

event::emit(MessageAdded {
    sender,
    message,
    added_at: timestamp::now_seconds(),
});

Note

Event structs need drop and store. They are plain Move structs, so you get strong typing instead of ABI-encoded event payloads.

What to read next

1. Accounts
2. Data Storage Models
3. Contract vs Container
4. Ethers.js vs the Aptos TS SDK

If you want the short version first, jump to the cheatsheet.