Pitfalls in dapp development

Decentralized applications are one of the important features. The Ethereum has made interesting for developers. The idea of ​​distributing files dates back to 2001. But the idea that instead of static files, we could have programmable executable logic with security. It’s in a distributed blockchain was proposed in 2015. Decentralized Apps or Dapps are the next step after smart contracts. If a smart contract is a small piece of logic that is stored and executed by machines on the blockchain. Then Dapps refer to higher-level applications. Dapps from Unicsoft – cryptocurrency exchange development company are built using smart contracts to provide their functionality.

Dapps, like other applications, are a combination of different technologies. For example, the “stack” technology that we use with a standard web application. A typical application might look like this. You have a web host that stores files and applications, server software that runs program logic. You have a database that stores information. And you have a connection to a user who uses a browser to interact with the web application interface.

The only difference with Dapp, and that’s a pretty big difference, is that the database files. And most of the program logic itself are not stored. And they run on a single machine or server. They are stored and operated across the blockchain network. The blockchain protocol manages the concurrent execution of program code in such a way that the protection of transaction data in the blockchain is applied to the program code itself. It’s a completely different way of building and running apps. Distributed decentralized applications are extremely resistant to attacks and are highly resilient. Their built-in blockchain provides Dapps with out-of-the-box access to blockchain tools. And they value structures such as Tokenized Ownership and Identity Management that make user verification. And they make payment processing easy.

It is possible to create applications in which your user data is your own. And they are not available or cannot be sold to centralized operators or third parties. This increases trust given the public nature of smart contracts. This way, users can actually analyze the internal code and see what the smart contracts are “up to”. Of course, there are also disadvantages. Contract code execution is expensive. Anything that runs on the Ethereum network must be running on every node. This means that contracts and logic must be simple, streamlined, and efficient, and therefore are only useful for a small subset of applications.

Smart contracts are also immutable. This is sometimes useful, but if you find a mistake, it is much more difficult to fix. There are also obvious scaling issues here. If all computers have to run everything, then your network will run at the speed of the slowest computer. The separation we talked about in the previous lesson should help solve some of these scaling problems. You can think of Dapps as network-based smart contracts that use transactions to communicate with each other. These contracts send data to each other in the same way as a Bitcoin transaction.

In terms of the interface, DApps and regular applications may not differ in any way. The differences lie in how programs run and how code is executed.

DApps applications are independent of the environment in which they are executed. This means that decentralized applications are deterministic as opposed to centralized ones. Let’s take a look at several characteristics of DApps that differentiate them from a traditional utility with useful link.

Decentralization

One of the main features of DApps is that they run on a decentralized network using blockchain technology and do not have a single point of failure. “Regular” centralized applications store data on centralized servers, which leads to the risk of information leakage.

Fault tolerance

If the company’s servers stop working, the code will not be executed and the application will become inaccessible to users. DApps will continue to work even if one or more of the serving nodes goes down. Attackers will not be able to conduct Denial of Service DDoS attacks.

Autonomy

When you use an application, such as mobile banking applications, you pay intermediaries for the services provided. Decentralized applications have Turing completeness. This means that an application can execute user commands using a smart contract. It’s if it supports such functions.

Isolation

Another problem with centralized applications is that the client and server are interconnected and dependent on each other. If the backend code on the server is compromised, the client side will also suffer. This makes centralized applications vulnerable to hacking.