What are DApps? A Simple Guide For Beginners 👥🌐

Ever wondered about the technology behind the popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum? Well, a large part of that innovation is due to something called decentralized applications or 'DApps'.

Let's dive in, but don't worry! We'll keep this as simple as Sunday morning. 🌅

Imagine you're at a fruit stand. 🍎🍊🍇 In a traditional setting, there's a vendor (a middleman) who sells the fruit to you. But what if you could directly exchange money for fruits with the farmer? No middleman, just you and the farmer. That's decentralization in a nutshell!

Now, DApps work similarly. They are applications that run on a peer-to-peer network (like a group of farmers) rather than a single computer or server (the fruit vendor). No one party controls the entire network. It's all distributed!

Here's how you can differentiate DApps from traditional apps:

1️⃣ Open Source: In a DApp, the source code is available to all. It's like a recipe that everyone can access and improve upon!

2️⃣ Decentralized: All the data and records are stored on a public and decentralized blockchain to avoid a single point of failure.

3️⃣ Incentive: DApps often reward users with tokens or other digital assets.

4️⃣ Protocol/Algorithm: They must generate tokens and follow a standard cryptographic algorithm to show proof of value.

To illustrate, let's take a peek at a small piece of a DApp in Solidity, a popular language for creating DApps on the Ethereum network. This is a simple contract for a decentralized voting system:

//SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity >=0.4.22 <0.9.0;


contract Voting {

    // Model a Candidate

    struct Candidate {

        uint id;

        string name;

        uint voteCount;

    }


    // Store Candidates

    // Fetch Candidate

    mapping(uint => Candidate) public candidates;


    // Store Candidates Count

    uint public candidatesCount;


    constructor () public {

        addCandidate("Candidate 1");

        addCandidate("Candidate 2");

    }


    function addCandidate (string memory _name) private {

        candidatesCount ++;

        candidates[candidatesCount] = Candidate(candidatesCount, _name, 0);

    }

}

This is a smart contract for a voting system where each candidate is a struct with an id, name, and vote count. The contract's constructor initializes two candidates. This data is stored on the blockchain, making it secure, transparent, and unchangeable!

Remember, understanding DApps can seem complicated, but it's just like learning to appreciate a new kind of fruit! 🍍 The first bite might be strange, but give it time, and you might find that you love it! 💖

Stay curious! 🚀