send, transfer, sendTransaction, call, delegateCall | Notion

send() vs transfer()

`send()`

Low-level function that forwards exactly 2300 gas to the recipient—just enough to emit an event.
Returns false on failure without reverting; you must handle failure manually.
Rarely used today due to its silent failure behavior.

`transfer()` (better than send as auto reverts)

Also forwards 2300 gas, but automatically reverts the entire transaction on failure, making it safer than send().
However, fixed gas stipend makes it brittle in changing gas environments (e.g. Istanbul hard-fork).

`call{value: ..., gas: ...}("")`

Most flexible; forwards all available gas or a specified limit.
Can call external contracts with complex operations.
Must handle reentrancy explicitly and check return status using require(...).

call vs delegatecall vs staticall

Answers the question - what is the difference between call, delegatecall, and transaction?

Feature	`call`	`delegatecall`	`staticcall`
Context	Runs in callee's context	Runs in caller’s context	Like `call` but no state mutation
Storage affected	Callee’s storage	Caller’s storage	None (read-only)
`msg.sender`	Preserved from original sender	Same as caller’s `msg.sender`	Preserved
State change?	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No
Use cases	Regular inter-contract calls	Proxy delegation / plugin execution	Read-only queries on external contracts

Message calls

A message call is the actual EVM-level "CALL" invocation—either from an EOA (via transaction) or from within another contract.
Every transaction involves an initial ("top-level") message call. Contracts can then spawn further nested message calls (e.g., one contract calling another).