Steemit Crypto Academy Season 4 Beginners' course - Task 8: Decentralized Applications (dApps) : Home work task for @wahyunahrul by @kingmyke

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Hello Everyone.
In this post I will be answering the following questions by the professor @wahyunahrul assignment post here

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?

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dApps is short for Decentralized Applications. These are applications, just like our normal day-to-day electronic applications, that are built for use on blockchain and on peer-to-peer networks (meaning they are blockchain-based). They are created to ensure the smooth running of transactions over blockchain technology. They are independent of any single/central authority of any sort and all the members of the blockchain are involved in the active participation of the use of these applications.

Given the fact that dApps are not under any single authority, this means that no single bank or government is in control of the functionality of these dApps.

dApps were brought into existence or popularized by the Ethereum network.

Characteristic Features of dApps

1. They run on blockchain technology

2. It runs on an open-source model. Tis shows that there is no central source as any changes to be made in a dApp must be done in a consensus after agreement by everyone involved in that dApp.

3. Participants and miners in the dApps are incentivized in the tokens perculiar your dApp.

4. It is decentralized. It is not under the control of any single authority or entity.

etc.

Explain the Working System of dApps?

Decentralized apps work on either blockchain network or are built for peer-to-peer networks. They operate based on an open-source model (meaning that all recorded transaction processes are made open for the entire public to see). The functionality of dApps is such that no intermediary is needed to carry out any sort of transaction processing and that no third party is needed for the recording of transaction process; the recording of these transactions are already automatic.

dApps make transactions very easy, fast and convenient for the users and often charge a small fee (paid in the token upon which the dApp is built) to process transactions over the dApp.

What Are The Differences Between dApps and Other Applications?

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Okay, since we know what decentralized applications are, now let us compare and contrast it with other applications. See the table below for the comparison.

Decentralized Apps	Other Applications
1. Transaction fees are involved in the process	There are no fees for using the service
2. They function/operate on blockchain technologies	They do not operate on blockchain technology
3. Applications are not under the control or management (meaning there is no sole ownership)	There is the presence of ownership of these applications
4 There is no central authority, meaning it is decentralized.	There is the presence of a central authority
5. They make use of tokens and coins for operations.	They do not require tokens for transactions.
6. Cost of development is low	Cost of development is high
7. The level of security is high	the level of security is low
8. Their functionality and usage is similar	Their functionality is diverse

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of dApps?

Below are the advantages and disadvantages of using dApps

Advantages

1. dApps are open-source. This makes all the activities on the dApp to be transparent as there can be little to know form of dishonesty amongst developers.

2. dApps are more flexible and easy to work with as compared to centralized apps because they di not require a central server to run their operations. This makes them faster and more efficient.

3. Payments do not require the need of a third party or intermediary. This makes the process faster.

4. Also, since there is no need for a third party, fees are lesser because the fees to be paid to the third party are non-existent when using dApps.

5. Information or data is never lost. This is because once data is stored in a blockchain, it is stored permanently.

Disadvantages

1. User experience is quite different from other centralized apps. This can sometimes make them difficult to use because of complexities and the newness of concepts to new users.

2. Sometimes, depending on the work load and number of transactions handled worldwide by the dApps, transaction processes can be quite slow.

3. It is difficult to make updates and fix issue in dApps because it would require every peer and node in the entire network to update their network. This makes it a very difficult task.

4. To perform verification exercises in order to grant one access to the use of a dApp can be difficult.

5. If a mistake is made on a dApp, it is irreversible and this poses are very large issue for the network.

How can dApps developers promote their apps?

There are a variety of ways that developers can promote their dApps, some of which include:

1. Creating a Website:

This is a very powerful way of promoting your dApps. If you have a website that tells people all about your dApp and show some quality display of the features and usability of your dApp, it can significantly improve your chances of becoming popular. Also, having a website shows professionalism and will make people to take you seriously.

2. Social Media Presence:

We live in a very digital world today. Any business that want to be taken serious must have a strong social media presence. This means having a presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and as many strong social apps as possible to improve our presence.

3. Online Ads:

A developer who want his dApps to be seen can also advertise by using options such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads to increase visibility.

4. Using Influencers Power:

This is a powerful way of gaining visibility. A developer can work with popular people in the society so that they can help advertise the dApp to all their fans and followers.

What should we pay attention to when using dApps?

Individuals need to pay attention to the complexities that come with using dApps. For example, since dApps do not function like the normal centralized applications that we use, moving from centralized apps to decentralized ones to make our transactions may be a bit taunting to us. This should be made known to new users.

Also, some dApps pose themselves to be decentralized when, in reality, they are not. This can be very misleading to a lot of people. Some of them even pose to be dApps when they are not even dApps at all and this can make new users fall into the wrong hands.

It is important that users make thorough research and investigation into the user experience and nature and reliability of the dApps they want to use before actually using them. This is to avoid painful experiences such as loss or theft of tokens.

How Do We Find Information Of A dApp That We Want To Know? Provide the steps (Screenshot required)

These are the steps on finding information on the dApps you wan to know about;

Note: All screenshots were gotten from www.dappradar.com here.

Step 1:

visit www.dappradar.com here. The page you should see will be the one below

Step 2:

Sometime you may not find the dApp you want to get information on displayed on the home page of the above website. In such case, you click on the " Rankings" menu at the top of the website page.

Step 3:

When you click on "Rankings", a list of dApps are displayed to you from which you can make your choice to gain the information you are searching for.

You could also simply use the search bar and search for the dApps you want to get information about.

In This example, I searched for "Steemit"

Step 4:

When you have searched for and fund the dApp you want ( which is Steemit in my case), you will be presented with all the important information concerning that dApp. The information include users, transactions, balance, volume and historical activity over selected periods of time.

Conclusion

In this assignment, I was given the opportunity to learn a lot about the world of dApps, How they function and some examples. Moving forward, I will be exploring more about dApps personally to make my work in the cryptocurrency space much easier and fun.

Thank you Prof. @wahyunahrul for the assignment