What does Dapps mean?
Dapp stands for "decentralized app". These are apps that, unlike traditional mobile phone apps (like Angry Birds) or web apps (like Google or Facebook) do not reside on any app store or one web server, rather they are distributed across many computers, just like torrents or Bitcoin. You can run dapps either in a standard web browser using a dapp plugin, or use a dapp browser, like Dappscape.
What are Dapps?
Consciously or unconsciously, you might have come across the word 'dapp' on the internet or probably through a friend or even better in your intrigue curiosity of the new evolvement of the crypto world; however, basic introductions are the profound foundation to learning. Therefore a decentralized application (dapp) is an application built on a decentralized network that merges a smart contract and a frontend user interface- to be more clear, a Dapp is nothing less than any other software application you use. It could be a website or other application on your smartphone. What differentiates Dapp from the conventional app is that its build on a decentralized network, like Ethereum.
Dapps explained:
- Decentralized: means that they are independent, as no one can control them as a group.
- Remote: means they can be executed in a virtual environment known as Ethereum Virtual Machine; if the smart contact happens to have a bug, it will not hamper the blockchain network's normal functionality.
- Based on smart contracts: The introduction of Dapp will not suffice without a prerequisite of what a smart contract is- A smart contract is a code that lives in the Ethereum blockchain and execute exactly as programmed. Once they are installed on the network, you cannot change them. Dapp can be referred to as decentralized because they are controlled by logic written in the contract, however not by an individual or host company. This also means you need to be careful while designing your contract and test them thoroughly.
Some key stats to notice in the evolution of dapp are that over 300 dapps were launched in 2020 from Ethereum, a tremendous advancement growing only from 7 in 2017. However, as at present, 60 % of the dapps in the markets are games.
How does a Dapp work?
One of the main function of dapp is to employ cryptocurrencies as the built-in medium of exchange. With this, dapp could potentially skyrocket the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies by exposing them to the populace. Some observers can prognosticate about the impact dapp and can have on the world to surpass the current impact of mobile application traditional server-client applications ever had.
Dapps in Blockchain:
- Privacy plays a key role in security; however, on dapp, you do not have to provide your real-world identification to deploy or interact with the dapp.
- Resistance to suppression- no single entity on the platform have the
sovereignty to lock users from submitting a transaction, deploying dapps, or
even reading data from the blockchain..
What is more, consider a concrete case study, for example, a centralized application like Twitter. Of course, Twitter users are obviously at the mercy of Twitter itself. It could conceivably choose to censor Twitter users or better remove them from the platform. - Moreover, an additional advantage of the decentralized application is that they are immune to any single point of failure. This is possible because of the fundamental nature of decentralization. Instead, depending on a single flow of data stemming from a single point, users of dapps enjoy a far more distributed approach- To understand this in a lay language means that the adverse effect of any localized error such as accidental or the result of sabotage plan such a fire in the central server cannot be initiated.
- Secured data integrity is also an observable property of dapp in which stored data on the blockchain cannot be forge and indisputable, thanks to cryptographic primitives. Hackers cannot forge transactions or data that has already been made public.
What are Dapps used for?
With the evolution of dapps, there have been controversial confusion about the difference between apps and dapps. For introductory, the app is a short name for the application. However, the word app become common since smartphones appeared some years back. The app was the newly trendy stuff, with the development increasing daily, making life more assessable in one way or the other. Dapps is somewhat new, which just got introduced with the release of Ethereum. Dapp is a centralized application, as we have aforementioned, and it is typically an app that works on a blockchain such as Ethereum or NEO (formerly Antshares).
Apps are introduced as a software application that runs on a desktop or mobile devices. For example, Microsoft word is an app that runs on Windows machine, whereas palm store is an application that runs on phones such as android. However, Dapp is commonly used for ICOs (Initial coin offerings) to create smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain in which they use to conduct business, such as fundraising used primarily by start-ups wishing to create a new coin, app, or perhaps as a way to raise funds.
Furthermore, the application is the one which is used by every businessman with a basic goal to reach more users and to cover customers mostly through mobile devices by which they can escalate their business. But, Dapp or centralized application works based on the concept of centralization. What I mean is; in dapp, there is no existence of any central control, and the authority is distributed to all. An App requires a third party to connect the users to the application. However, in dapp, the reverse is when it does not require any intermediate, and it automatically connects with users.
In the real sense, decentralized application, as well as the blockchain they work on, are still in their infancy; At the same time, developers can easily submit their newly built dapps to the platform like Dapp.com the number of their users is still insignificantly lower than the number of users of conventional mobile apps.
In the context of operation and scalability, dapps still have observable limitation. Besides, the majority also needs to gain more insight into the blockchain ecosystem element such as a token, wallet, etc., to operate the application boastfully.
In conclusion, the properties of dapp, which makes its user have complete transparency of all transaction and give users full control and ownership of their data and asset, make it the best choice of application. However, the usability of Dapps is majorly for a project which requires a high level of user trust, i.e. b2b a db2c platform for customers and seller relationships; therefore, if you are mostly focused on usability and agility, it is best to stick with regular mobile apps.
Read this article What are
dapps? on Medium.