A decentralised system... An application that we use on a regular basis... What is it exactly?
In this post, we are going to explain what a decentralised application or DApp is. Before we start and find out what it is, first you need to know clearly what a centralised application is. It is an application that you use on the internet on a regular basis, a system controlled by a single or central entity, such as a company, an institution or an individual. In any case, this entity hosts the system in its facilities and offers a service through the cloud. The institution has full control of all the components and layers of the architecture, so the user has to assess whether this entity is reliable or not.
For example, the applications you use when you access your bank or buy clothes in an online shop. That's one example. Now, what we are interested in is to know what the DApp is all about.
Come on, read on, because now comes the best part. Let's get started!
They are decentralised applications that use blockchain technology so that users can relate directly to each other, close deals without the presence of a central entity and with multiple advantages for the user:
The origin of DApps dates back to 2001, when the first decentralised applications were launched for the purpose of file sharing, as well as P2P networks: BitTorrent, eMule, etc.
But what makes these applications a decentralised system?
Now that we know what a DApp is, it is time to take the next step and talk about its characteristics:
Decentralising an application means eliminating its dependence on a system or server from which everything is controlled, which allows applications to work with greater tolerance to errors.
Thanks to the distributed nature of the nodes, attacking the information stored on the blockchain is practically impossible. It ensures that the data can only be seen by those who create it, as well as the rest of the users who intervene to verify its validity.
This means that the source code is made freely available to everyone to facilitate its adaptation to different contexts. This opens up a huge range of possibilities and makes the applications very transparent.
DApps interact on this technology to execute their smart contract, which generates an input of information on the blockchain. This data is encrypted in order to increase transparency and is stored on the blockchain.
We are sorry to tell you that there is no magic wand that is going to help you decide between App or Dapp, but you can know their main differences, the secret is to keep reading and take the next step:
It is centralised in traditional apps and decentralised in DApps. In the latter case, the backend is related to a smart contract executed on the blockchain. It is the programming of the smart contract that guarantees the functioning of the decentralised app.
It allows users to interact with the application and has a multitude of graphical resources that can be used by both types of applications, from frameworks such as QT to interactions written in HTML5.
In addition to these two main characteristics, you must take into account the storage of the information. In traditional applications it is centralised, that is, it is stored in servers that are controlled by third parties. However, in DApps, the storage is decentralised and the interactions are stored in the blocks of the chain in a cryptographic way. They provide much more security, to the point that if your computer crashes, you can recover all the information just by using the decentralised application on another device.
Now that you know what they are, what their advantages and characteristics are, it is time to classify decentralised applications:
everything clear so far?
Let's take a practical case as an example of the use of DApps:
do you have any doubts about how DApps work? Who should you turn to if you want to create a decentralised application?
Consult all your doubts with the professional team at Occam Agencia Digital.