In this article, we will talk about decentralized applications that use blockchain technology for their work. After reading this article, you will learn what DApps are, how they work, and how they differ from regular applications. We will list the areas of application of such applications and provide examples with dapp development services at Unicsoft.
DApps (decentralized applications) are decentralized applications. A comparison with common applications that users download to their smartphones will help explain this term. In classic applications, the developer – one person or a large company – has full control over the application, and the program code is located on the computer or servers of the company. For example, a company can change the rules for using an application, its functionality or even close it altogether. Only the owner of the application can make any changes. The user cannot influence his work in any way. For example, you installed a regular application and found a bug in it. All you can do is write to technical support or leave a review. You cannot open the code and make changes to it. This can only be done by the developer.
Centralized and Decentralized Applications
Decentralized applications lack a single-center because they run on blockchain technology. Users can openly view the code and suggest any changes. If other users support these changes, they will make them. In other words, the user community has control over the application. For example, if you find a bug in a decentralized application, you can always find an open-source, make the necessary changes to fix the bug, and invite the community to vote for the new version of the code. If it supports you, the application code will be updated, and the error will be fixed for all users.
Criteria that DApps must meet
Not all applications that use blockchain are decentralized. They must meet four criteria:
The application is open source. This will allow any user to check it, find and fix bugs, improve the application. Changes can only be made based on user consensus. To work with DApps code, you can use services for hosting and collaborative development of IT projects – for example, here.
The application uses blockchain as a decentralized database.
The app has a reward system. Users who provide the computing power of their devices for the operation of the application have the ability or should be able to receive a reward in the form of tokens for this.
The application generates tokens. To do this, it has a built-in consensus algorithm, according to which tokens will be issued.
Consensus algorithm is a cryptographic algorithm according to which user devices decide to add new information to a block. This process requires computing power. Therefore, the mechanism is initially designed to issue a reward for its implementation. The most common are Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS).
How does DApps work?
Any application has 2 parts: the frontend is the part of the application in which the user performs actions, and the backend is the application database.
A frontend is that part of the application that you download to your computer or smartphone, open it in your browser. It contains the interface, renders information for the user, and accepts requests from him.
For example, when you listen to music in Apple Music, the interface renders pause, rewind, song title, and music search and download requests to the user. For decentralized applications, the frontend is also on the device and performs the same functions. For example, you installed the Golem app in order to create computer graphics for videos on other users’ computers in exchange for GNT tokens. The interface shows you the number of GNT tokens on your account, accepts requests from you to select the video resolution, and select the folder in which you want to save the finished file.
The frontend of decentralized and conventional applications is practically the same. The DApps interface can be written in any programming language, regardless of the blockchain, and its task is to make the interaction between the application and the user understandable. The only condition for the frontend of decentralized applications is that it must support work with smart contracts.
