Learn DApps and boost your Portfolio

Decentralized applications (DApps) are digital applications or programs that exist and run on a blockchain or peer-to-peer (P2P) network of computers instead of a single computer. DApps (also called "dapps") are outside the purview and control of a single authority. DApps—which are often built on the Ethereum platform—can be developed for a variety of purposes including gaming, finance, and social media.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Decentralized applications—also known as "dApps" or "dapps"—are digital applications that run on a blockchain network of computers instead of relying on a single computer.
2. Because dApps are decentralized, they are free from the control and interference of a single authority.
3. Benefits of dApps include the safeguarding of user privacy, the lack of censorship, and the flexibility of development.
4. Drawbacks include the potential inability to scale, challenges in developing a user interface, and difficulties in making code modifications.

Understanding Decentralized Applications (dApps)

A standard web app, such as Uber or Twitter, runs on a computer system that is owned and operated by an organization, giving it full authority over the app and its workings. There may be multiple users on one side, but the backend is controlled by a single organization.

DApps can run on a P2P network or a blockchain network. For example, BitTorrent, Tor, and Popcorn Time are applications that run on computers that are part of a P2P network, whereby multiple participants are consuming content, feeding or seeding content, or simultaneously performing both functions.

In the context of cryptocurrencies, dApps run on a blockchain network in a public, open-source, decentralized environment and are free from control and interference by any single authority. For example, a developer can create a Twitter-like dApp and put it on a blockchain where any user can publish messages. Once posted, no one—including the app creators—can delete the messages.

Why use a DApp?

Decentralization offers various benefits over apps running on a centralized network. Chiefly is the lack of a third party, thanks to the innovative smart contract. An app like Venmo allows one to send money to anyone, however, moving those funds to a bank account costs a fee. Plus, moving fiat often takes days to arrive.

Sending money over a decentralized app, however, means there aren’t any or very little costs to be paid. This saves users money on fees, and considering decentralized transactions are almost instant, it saves them time as well.

An advantage decentralized platforms have is they’re invulnerable to all types of attacks, as there’s no physical device to target. Not only does this make the network more secure, but it also means there’s no downtime. Accessing these applications is always possible.

DApps can also apply to almost any industry, such as gaming, medical, governance and even file storage. As a result, DApp usage is almost no different from traditional applications. While users benefit from all the changes on the backend, the actual experience should be the same. This way of interacting with applications is considered Web 3.0, also referring to the decentralization of information.

When the web started, it was a space full of information anyone could access. Over time, large companies harnessed, or centralized, it. While these organizations provide it for “free,” that comes at the cost of providing our data, which they then sell for profit.

Companies then have control over that information, know what their users like to buy, how much money they have and who they know. That control also means they can take it away. Enter Web 3.0, where DApp usage doesn’t come at the cost of privacy.

Instead, a user can choose to share only required information for, say, a medical checkup or a loan, and choose who sees it and for how long. Companies might pay for this access as well, ensuring that the users also profit from it. There’s also the problem of trust. In a world where large companies with so-called high security are leaking usernames, emails and passwords, it’s hard to trust anyone completely.

Cons of DApps

While decentralized applications might present a future free of corporations, there are currently some major issues that the industry is working to resolve.

For one, the lack of a central authority might mean slower updates and platform changes. After all, one party can simply update their app as they please. A DApp, however, requires majority consensus from the acting governance — even for a minor bug fix. This could take weeks or even months as users debate the pros and cons of any improvement.

Also, DApps require a reasonably-sized user base to operate properly. They need nodes, governance and users just to interact with it. However, accessing DApps can be quite difficult in this early stage, and many aren’t seeing the support they need.

In the future, accessing a DApp might be a download away. But for now, users must download a DApp-supported browser, send the required crypto to that wallet and interact from there. While tech-savvy users should have no problem with this, the vast majority of people will have no idea where to start.

Why you need to learn dApps as a Developer?

Why won't you learn dApp as developer?

It's very obvious that blockchain is taking over with it's decentralized nature. So this is the best time join the boat. At the moment blockchain developers are in high demand. You can also start up your own Decentralize Exchange too, there are so many things you can achieve from the blockchain technology as a developer.

Where do I start?

DApp development roadmap is a little overwhelming for new developers, with so many terms and tech stack to learn. but there is always somewhere to start.

DApps has three parts and it's essential to focus on one part at first then you can learn the rest as you get familiar with the technology. The first part is the;

Smart Contract: A smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. The code controls the execution, and transactions are trackable and irreversible. To build Smart Contracts you need to learn;

1. Solitdity: Solidity is an object-oriented programming language for writing smart contracts. It is used for implementing smart contracts on various blockchain platforms, most notably, Ethereum.
2. Remix: Remix IDE, is an open-source Ethereum IDE you can use to write, compile and debug Solidity code.
3. Truffle: Truffle is a world-class development environment, testing framework and asset pipeline for blockchains using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), aiming to make life as a developer easier. Truffle is widely considered the most popular tool for blockchain application development
4. Ganache: Ganache is used for setting up a personal Ethereum Blockchain for testing your Solidity contracts.

Smart Contract is about 5 - 10% of the overall code you need to write when developing your dApp, but it is the most important as it can not be changed once deployed to the network, it holds the logic of the dApp.

The other two parts of dApps is the frontend and the backend. This is where your web development knowledge comes in. Building the frontend and backend is where you will spend most of your time as dApp developer. It is recommended to know JavaScript for this part, although you can use Python, C# (Unity), etc.

For this part there is a middleware called Moralis that can be used to speed up development process.

What is Moralis?

Moralis provides managed backend for blockchain projects. Automatically syncing the balances of your users into the database, allowing you to set up on-chain alerts, watch smart contract events, build indexes, and so much more. All features are accessed through an easy-to-use SDK. All features Moralis provides are cross-chain by default.

This means that you do not need to know Solidity or Smart Contracts to develop your own dApps. There are tons of existing Smart Contracts that you can plugin to and build your own dApps. The Moralis documentation is a great place to start.

Conclusion

• To become a Blockchain app developer you need to learn Solidty (programming language for writing smart contracts) and JavaScript (You can also use C# or Python)
• With a Middleware like Moralis, you don't need to know Solidty because Moralis provides tones of Smart Contracts for you to plugin to and develop your dApps
• Ganache is a fake client to testing and developing smart contracts.
• Start with Moralis and JavaScript, then later learn solidity

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