Steemit cryptoAcademy season4 Beginners course-Homework post for Task 8 ||Decentralized Applications (dApps)
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Hello everyone, I'm glad to be taking part on this crypto academy season 4.
I will like to, first of all, appreciate our noble professor @wahyunahrul for all his wonderful effort so far in this great community. Thank you, Professor.
In this particular lecture on Decentralized Applications (DApps), I will be taking on the first question.
QUESTIONS
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).
QUESTION 1
What are DApps? Explain the working system of dApps?
We are all familiar with the word "app" which stands for application. An application is a computer program built to perform certain tasks. The first inbuilt mobile app by name "snake" was said to be created in the year 1997 on a Nokia 6110 mobile.
For years the world was only familiar with centralized applications which make use of centralized servers and don't allow full transparency either does it give equal rights and opportunity to its users.
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A decentralized application which is commonly known as DApp is an open-source application which is built on blockchains. Its mode of operation is based on peer-to-peer which nullifies the activities of a third party. A DApp doesn't have anything to do with centralized servers because it's backend by smart contracts which makes it fully decentralized. Unlike centralized applications whereby decisions are carried out by the centered body without the opinion of its users, in decentralized applications, its users are those that make decisions and anyone can be a user without any form of criteria, permission, or payment. The first-ever ethereum DApp to gain real users was a game called cryptokittes which was built in October 2017.
A lot of other DApps have been built on different blockchains with a good example being STEEMIT which is a social platform built on steem blockchain.
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Working systems of DApps
DApps works by hosting their data in different nodes that maintain the same blockchain.
- The blockchain can be likened to a digital ledger where transactions are recorded.
- A node can be linked to a computer system or server that validates transactions and makes the information widely available through a connected device.
Having known the above, we can say that the DApps works like every other app but the major difference lies in the fact that the activities in a decentralized application are open source and this is made possible by different nodes connected on the same blockchain which makes all recorded information open to every user.
On a decentralized application, nothing is hidden at all.
All information presented to the blockchain by the various nodes must be identical and this makes a decentralized application very difficult if not impossible to hack.
Miners validate transactions and transmit them on the various network of nodes. These miners are rewarded with the token of that particular blockchain. For a DApp like steemit, node operators are rewarded with steem coin.
A DApp works on a peer-to-peer level whereby users interact and transact directly without having to go through a third party or middle man.
Unlike centralized applications that are backed by centralized servers, a decentralized application is backed by smart contracts that run on blockchains.
QUESTION 2
What are the differences between dApps and other applications? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of dApps?
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DApps are simply decentralized applications built on the blockchain while an application is a centralized computer program built to carry out a particular function.
Below are some of the differences between a DApp and an Application.
| DApps | OTHER APPLICATIONS |
|---|---|
| DApps are open source | Other applications are closed source. |
| DApps are backed by smart contracts | Other applications are backend by centralized servers. |
| DApps are built on blockchains | Other applications are not built on blockchains. |
| DApps are not governed by anybody or institution | Other applications are owned and managed by a central body. |
| Some examples of DApps are Steemit, pancake swap, BitTorrent, etc. | Some examples of the app are WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. |
| DApps allows equal rights to every user. | Rights in applications vary from user to developer. |
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Advantages and disadvantages of DApps
The fact of life still remains that nothing is perfect and for that reason, anything that has an advantage has a disadvantage in one way or the other. For that reason, I will be outlining some advantages and disadvantages of a decentralized application.
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
|---|---|
| It is very transparent. No activity is hidden on a decentralized application. | The cost of building a decentralized application is high when compared to a normal application. |
| Transactions between users of a decentralized application are performed directly without any third party. | A decentralized application is much more complex when compared to a normal application. |
| A decentralized application is highly secured. Because all pieces of information presented by various nodes on a blockchain must be identical, it makes a DApp highly secured and almost impossible to hack | Updating a Decentralized application isn't done all at once as seen in centralized applications. Here update is done nodes by nodes and this makes it a difficult process. |
| A decentralized application doesn't require a user's personal information so a user enjoys maximum privacy while using a DApp. | The building process of a DApp takes time for the fact that there's hardly any room for creation or addition of new features into an already existing DApp so developers take their time to think about how they want it to be and what it should contain in other to avoid regrets. |
QUESTIONS 3
How can dApps developers promote their apps?
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DApp developers can promote their apps through various means which are as follows:
Media advertisement
DApp developers can create awareness of their app on media platforms such as Reddit, telegram, and even Twitter. It's not a new thing seeing a lot of news and adverts concerning cryptocurrencies all over media. A good example is what we always see CZ Binance do from time to time on Twitter.
screenshot from my Twitter account
DApp developers without a strong fan base can pay another in other to get their project advertised.
Associating with big and already existing popular organizations.
DApp developers can collaborate with popular companies in other to gain popularity themselves. A DApp launched on a popular blockchain such as Ethereum or Tron easily gains popularity when compared to those launched on other blockchains. An example is Kelver token which was launched on Tron blockchain but is currently working on launching their blockchain and will succeed due to the popularity already gained by associating with Tron.
Physical outreach
Physical outreach is another means of promotion. Developers can start getting involved in crypto-related seminars and conferences in other to stand a chance of meeting with highly influential crypto gurus who might help in the success of their projects.
Listing on popular exchanges
Being listed on a popular exchange such as Binance can easily help in the promotion of a DApp. The massive popularity of BitTorrent is also a result of the BitTorrent token being listed on Binance.
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QUESTION 4
What should we pay attention to when using dApps?
When using a DApp one should pay attention to some important features such as it's level of governance, it's transaction fee, scallibilty and level of decentralization, it's flexibility and level of transperancy along side other important features.
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QUESTION 5
How do we find the information of a DApp that we want to know? Provide the steps (Screenshot required)
Let's proceed by logging into https://coinmarketcap.com/. On coinmarketcap, choose any DApp you want to know it's information. I will be going with Uniswap which is built on ethereum blockchain.
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Some features of uniswap on https://coinmarketcap.com/
| Current price | $22.47 |
|---|---|
| Volume | $527,351,561 |
| Market cap | $13,918,944,181 |
| Circulating supply | $611,643,724 UNI |
| Rank | 12 |
Visit DappRadar to check out some informations on Uniswap.
Some features of Uniswap on https://dappradar.com/
| Rank | 1 |
|---|---|
| CAP | $22.07B |
| ATVL | $12.53B |
| TVL | $12.89B |
| CAP/TVL | 1.71 |
After logging into DappRadar and seeing some features of Uniswap, click on Uniswap to open.
After opening, click on "open DApp" to navigate to the main uniswap platform where you can swap, vote, etc.
Special regards to professor
@wahyunahrul
@Sapwood
@dilchamo
@steemcurator02
@sapwood
@wahyunahrul
@dilchamo
My work has been marked but it's yet to be curated. Today is the 6th day.