Steemit Crypto Academy Season Beginners' course -Task 8: Decentralized Applications(dApps)
Greetings everyone, I am delighted to once again complete another homework post task for this season crypto Academy. I hope to bring the best after carefully going through the lesson thought by our noble professor in the person of @wahyunahrul. I will move ahead to make my homework submission on the questions asked by our hardworking professor.
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).
The word dApp is a acronym for Decentralized application. These words do not sound new to us as we have had previous knowledge on what decentralization is and what applications are. Therefore, decentralized apps or applications are simply applications that operate without any interference of authority or third party. They work with the interaction directly with the users involved. These applications were brought to the system to fade away the use of Centralized applications. Decentralized applications do not have a owner or a group of owners but rather all users involved have a full responsibility and permission to do any activity. They are very transparent and what ever activity that goes on is open to all users to have a clear view of it. They are also immutable apps and every information on them are made available to users involved.
Unlike Centralized applications which are governed by an authority or certain people where they have instructions or rules in which users are expected to follow otherwise they will be denied access. For Decentralized applications we do not have anything as such happening there. We do have any intermediary that users will have to go by their rules and regulations before certain activities takes place. Everything happens on a clear view to various users involved in it. Let's take a look at this platform we find ourselves in, that is the Steemit Platform. We do not have any rules and regulations governing the usage of it. We are free to do any activity provided it wont go against that particular community rules. The transactions that take place in this platform are transparent and clear to all. Also, various cryptocurrencies in the crypto market are decentralized and can be found on their respective blockchains. Transactions are been carried out on the blockchain without any intermediary involved or authority. There is great security since the users have direct control over their assets or holdings.
One interesting aspect of Decentralized applications is the fact that the users involved come together to take various decisions as to how to run the affairs of the application so as to improve upon the output. From my research, we have a great number of Decentralized applications that are produced from the Ethereum blockchain and from time to time are been improved.
Well, looking at the working system of Decentralized applications, they were created to bring an end to the problems of various centralized applications we had in existence. Most centralized apps had a lot of problems including been slow with making of transactions and so on as a result of the third parties involved. They were also very expensive to build up and needed a lot of time. But with the interception of decentralized applications to the world, all these problems have been a thing of the past. Transactions are been carried out very fast and smooth without any third party involved. The intermediaries involved in centralized applications have made it difficult for the fast happening of transactions. This has become a thing of the past as a result of Decentralized apps.
In addition, decentralized applications has a system whereby the users involved come together in other to make various suggestions as to how to run the system without any authority involved. Transactions that are been carried out on a decentralized app are been done by the users themselves without any authority interference and these are been verified by the users nodes. The transactions that to occur are been made available to all users since they are been saved on the network and it is cannot be changed. Not forgetting the fact that, decentralized apps are open source applications and for that matter have no authority involved. The information that is been saved in the users nodes are very safe an cannot be hacked by anyone.
Decentralized applications are different from other applications as a result of certain characteristics they do posses in them. Some which are been explored below.
In various decentralized applications system, the security level cannot be compared to any other applications. Users are the only individuals that have direct access an control over their assets or holdings and nobody else. Unlike other applications where there is a central authority that has access to the assets of individuals.
The various activities that do take place on decentralized applications are clear and transparent to every individual involved in it. The happenings of transactions are transparent and everyone can have a view of it. The various data or information that are been saved on the application are been opened clear to all users involved in it.
In decentralized applications, another major difference it has with other apps is the fact that there cannot be changed of data or information that is been saved on it. That is, no individual has the power or the right to make changes to various data that is been saved on the app. But for application which have authority, data is been changed by these authorities.
Moving further, another difference of decentralized applications is the fact that, the occurrence of transactions occur very fast and also save. One is able to initiate a couple of transactions within a less amount of time. There is not also difficulties when making transactions as they are done directly with no interference of any party. With regards to other systems, since we have authorities or parties, there is delay of making transactions.
In decentralized applications we do not have anything like middleman or third parties. Transactions occur directly without any individual involved. There is no situation whereby certain approval has to be done by an authority before it commences, they are not owned by a single person but every user is involved.
In this world we find ourselves in currently, every item we have in circulation has both advantages and that of disadvantages. Therefore just like dApps we have certain advantages and that of disadvantages which I will explore below.
| ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
|---|---|
| There is high level of security in dApps. The assets or holdings of users are been taken care of by their self and no one else has access to them. This makes it very safe. | In a situation whereby the keys or password of a user gets missing, all the assets will be lost and the account as well. There is no one who has the power to find a way of getting all holdings since the account assets are in the hands of the user. |
| In dApps, we have the freedom to have a clear view of what ever transaction that is going on the platform and nothing is hidden from the users involved. | The transparency level of decentralized applications even gives the opportunity for hackers to know what is going on in the wallets of users which is very risky. |
| In dApps, the carrying out of transactions is very simple and easy. There are no or low fees paid for this activity which makes it very simple. | In setting up a decentralized system, there is must involved. The cost for it's construction is very high and requires a lot of energy and time. |
| Also, users involved in decentralized system have the maximum freedom to do anything, They have every control of their assets or holdings and no authority can harm them. | The much freedom is a threat in a sense that, when there is an issue that comes up, since no authority it will be of great harm to the system and might lead to the collapse of the system. |
| The Making of transactions is done directly without any intermediary involved and also happens at a faster rate. | In a situation of a wrong transaction or a mistake with address, the users suffers the cost and there is no refund to the victim. |
The Promotion of decentralized applications can be done in several ways since we have ways of reaching out to the general public in this current times.
Decentralized applications developers can make good use of a website to help sell their applications to the general public. They can do this by making adverts on these websites and telling them the benefits they will be getting if they join them. They can put out their terms and conditions and also what hidden benefits they have that others done have.
The usage of airdrops is also an effective way of promoting decentralized applications to the people out there. This will get a lot of individuals to join the system.
- Also most dApps developers can make good use of our social media platforms to sell out their applications in order to promote them. In this current life, we all spend much of out time on social media platforms so promoting the applications on these platforms will help reach a number of individuals.
After carefully studying and understanding the whole concept of dApps, we need to be on the look out when using these applications. In the current world we have a lot of Ponzi schemes that are circulating around and they are working as if they are decentralized applications. For that matter, when we find ourselves in a system where one is asked to bring someone before he or she can earn rewards then we have to take note that system is not a decentralized one and for that matter shouldn't be trusted.
In addition we know how clear and open decentralized applications are so in case one is not as transparent as it is expected to be then we have to think twice about it and stop using it since it can lead to a scam. Also, we find most crypto platforms or currencies to be decentralized systems but we need to be extra careful before dealing with them since they entail and lot of studies before making investments. As in the time to buy and when to sell. All these should attract our attention when using decentralized system.
- In order to get information of a decentralized application, this link will help us explore some dApps we have in the ecosystem.
I will therefore make a visit of it to take us to the interface of the website.
- From the top bar of the interface we have a four squared boxed item which is where we click on to get us the list of decentralized applications we have available. We then click on it to take us to thr applications been ranked in order.
- After clicking on the ranking option, a list of decentralized applications will be displayed and one can choose to make an exploration on any one of his or her choice.
- Moving further, I clicked on the 10th dApp to make an exploration on it which is the UniSwap.
- UniSwap is an exchange platform protocol which is used for the exchange of ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum Blockchain. It has a token called Uni and priced at $25.13 as at now.
In a nut shell, decentralized applications are a great innovation to the crypto ecosystem and for that matter we need to pay much attention to them. They are very secured to deal with and are transparent. The users involved are free to do what every they want and also take care of their assets or holdings all by themselves. They are also very different from other applications with their way of working and accessibility.
I am very grateful to our professor @wahyunahrul for this wonderful lesson and hoping to learn more from him in the coming days.
Thank you very much.