Steemit Crypto Academy Season 5 Beginners' course - Task 8: Decentralized Applications (dApps)

adorable-diala (56)in SteemitCryptoAcademy • 3 years ago (edited)

I am happy to be making progress in my steemit journey, today will like to prove my knowledge on Decentralized Applications (Dapps) as taught by professor @wahyunahrul

Question 1

What are dApps? Explain the working system of dApps? What are the differences between dApps and other applications? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of dApps? How can dApps developers promote their apps? What should we pay attention to when using dApps? How do we find the information of a DApp that we want to know? Provide the steps (Screenshot required).

What are Dapps

Decentralized Applications (dApps) are digital programs that exist and run on a Blockchain network of computers. They are usually built on the Ethereum platform and they can be developed for other purposes like finance, social media and gaming. It is open source and resistant to attack. DApps are not like the traditional applications which run on a single computer network rather they run in networks of multiple computers. Information are stored in sequential order forming blocks using cryptographic verification in Blockchain. Messages/records in Blockchain are available to users and remains unchanged. DApps is a new way of interacting with personal finance.

source

While Bitcoin is the first successful Blockchain network but the technology has transformed when Vitalik Buterin and his colleagues came up with a more decentralized platform, Ethereum in 2013. This made decentralized apps to be skyrocketed and became more popular.

Many social media Applications and other applications such as YOUTUBE, QUORA, LINKEDIN, UBER etc. exist and run on a computer system that is operated and owned by an organization which has full control over what happens in the platform. The backend of the application is controlled by the organization which gives the organization right to delete messages of users who have gone against the community rule. While in the case of DApps, a developer can create a social media platform and launched it on a Blockchain where users can put up contents and no one even the application creator cannot delete contents created by other users on the platform.

Explain the working system of dApps?

Dapps work on the following Characteristics. They are:

• Open Source Code
DApps have open source code and work without the interference of the third party. It is controlled by the users in the platform.

• Decentralized
Information and messages are public and accessible to all users in the platform. They are protected using cryptographic technology.

• Incentives
DApps reward miners and stakers with cryptographic tokens.

• Algorithm
DApps have a consensus method that generates tokens such as proof-of-work or proof-of-stake. The community must come to a common ground on a cryptographic algorithm to prove the value.

With this, it is safe to say that DApp is an open source software platform built on a decentralized Blockchain and grow using tokens generated using algorithm. Everyone can write and contribute to the platform without interference.
PoW used by Bitcoin and Ethereum users and PoS used by Cosmos users are the popular algorithm. They are used to reach a consensus between all users of a particular DApp.

• Proof-of-Work (POW)
requires miners to mine blocks and receive rewards. It guarantees the security of the Blockchain.

• Proof-of-Stake (POS)
protects the Blockchain and aid in processing transaction.

What are the differences between dApps and other applications?

Centralized applications have the back-end and front-end applications hosted on the same sever controlled by an organization or person while the backend of Decentralized applications are built synchronized distributed network servers. Decentralized applications run on peer-to-per network.

Applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bolt etc. exist and run on a computer system that is operated and owned by an organization which has full control over what happens in the platform. The backend of the application is controlled by the organization which gives the organization right to delete messages of users who have gone against the community rule. While in the case of DApps, a developer can create a social media platform and launched it on a Blockchain where users can put up contents and no one even the application creator cannot delete the messages. This is the beauty of DApps.

source

The table below shows the difference.

Centralized	Decentralized
Involves systematic and consistent reservation of authority	Involves systematic dispersal of authority
Communication flow is between the organization and each user	Communication flow is open and free to every user.
Decision making is slow	Decision making is faster
There is better coordination and leadership and burdens are shared by the leaders	Burdens and responsibilities are shared among the users
Decision making lies with the leaders in the organization	Decisions are made by each user in the platform
Best for small sized organization	Best for large organization

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of Dapps

Just like other applications Dapps has its advantages and drawbacks, the success Dapps has attained already should not take users eyes off the disadvantages of Dapps.

Advantages of Dapps

• No Downtime
Once a Dapp is deployed on the blockchain, the network will be available to all users who wish to interact with it. Hackers tend to launch attacks on applications in order to make it unavailable to intended users, but in Dapps Hackers cannot send a denial of service (Dos) attack targeted towards a Dapp.

• Privacy
In Dapps users do not need to provide their real world identity to deploy or interact with a Dapp.

• Resistance to censorship
In other normal applications some entities have the authority to control activities (such as submitting transactions and so on) but in Dapps no single entity on the network can block users from submitting transactions, deploying Dapps or performing other activities on the blockchain.

• Complete data integrity
Data stored on the blockchain cannot be altered due to the implementation of cryptography

• Trustless computataion/verifiable behaviour
When using traditional banking systems, users sometimes get scared that their financial data can be misused, or records altered but in Dapps there is guarantee of execution without having to trust a central authority like the traditional banking system.

Disadvantages of Dapps

• Maintainance
Maintaining Dapps is difficult. Normal application goes through modification and maintenance to remove bugs and improve performance of the app. But in Dapps, once a Dapp is deployed it becomes difficult for developers to modify or update even when there are bugs and loopholes identified.

• User experience
It may be harder to engineer user-friendly experiences because the average end-user might find it too difficult to set up a tool stack necessary to interact with the blockchain in a truly secure fashion.

• Network congestion
When one Dapp uses too many computational resources, the entire network gets backed up. Currently, the network can only process about 10-15 transactions per second; if transactions are being sent in faster than this, the pool of unconfirmed transactions can rise rapidly.

• Performance overhead
Every block chain has some basic concerns that must be intact such as security, integrity, transparency, reliability etc. The combination of excess or indirect computation time, memory.

How can Dapps developers promote their apps?

source

There are effective ways to promote Dapps. They are:

• Website
The online presence of the app is very important because it makes it legitimate so that people can know it is real.

• Social Media
An App developer must promote his (her) App through social media. Social media is a powerful tool with great number of active users which makes spread of information to be rapid. The App developer can promote on social media through online presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platform where they try to catch the attention of their audience by creating their own social media page or through paid advertisement on social media.

• Influencers, Celebrity endorsement
Top Techies can promote App via their social media and blogs, this will attract users do to their reputation in the Tech world.

• Search Ads
Promoting App can also be done within App Store through paid advertisement.

• App Store Optimization (ASO)
ASO is also a very powerful tool to promote App. To gain the attention of the App must have keywords, unique name, clear description and good ratings from the existing users.

• Public Relations
Media mentions goes a long way to promote an App. This can be done by having interview with local newspapers, hosting a launch party and inviting celebrities, influential people and the local media, having a press release etc.

• Promotional Video
Make a short clip video displaying the catching features, design and value of the App and place it on websites and share on social media.

What should we pay attention to when using Dapps?

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, one of the biggest challenges for anyone who wish to invest is not getting trapped in the intensive publicity/advert (which are sometimes exaggerated). Digital currencies have quickly risen to a place of prominence and can earn investors big rewards. At the same time, it is important to understand its volatile nature and the fact that is unpredictable sometimes.

source

Therefore it is important to check the market trend before investing in any of the cryptocurrency. Each cryptocurrency has its own worth, which you should know before investing. Take time to learn about the different currencies on offer, in addition to researching blockchain technology and take the time to read the project's white paper. Also Compare the price of all the currencies you’ve researched and pick the best one, which is in demand. Investing in a cryptocurrency that is in demand will increase your chances of generating profit.

If this question is ignored the image describes the outcome.

How do we find the information of a DApp that we want to know? Provide the steps (Screenshot required).

First you visit the site dappradar

source

After the page fully loads like the screenshot above, then click on icon with the red arrow and select the ranking menu to see list of decentralized applications.