A technology stack is a combination of technologies a company utilizes to design, develop, and run an application. It consists of programming languages, a database, a framework, a front-end, a backend, and APIs for connecting applications. Web3 dApps have a powerful technology stack by adding new technology, Blockchain, to their stack. Blockchain changes the entire game of applications as the data stored in the blockchain is immutable, permissionless, and decentralized. Compared to the traditional application tech stack, the front end of both (dApp and traditional app) consists of the same technologies. However, in the case of the backend, traditional apps are connected to a centralized database server, whereas dApps are connected to the decentralized blockchain.
The blog is divided into the following sections
- The top five frameworks of dApps
- The components of dApp architecture
- PrimaFelicitas Tech stack for dApp development
- The key features of dApp
- Develop dApp in four easy steps
- Decentralized application( dApp ) Business models
- Conclusion
The top five frameworks of dApps:
1. Hardhat:
- Compatibility – Hardhat is the Ethereum development environment that supports developers in the management and automation of everyday tasks involved in the development process.
- Testing Environment – It consists of a flexible testing environment that enables interaction with smart contracts.
- Local blockchain for testing – Hardhat provides a local blockchain using Hardhat Network, where the smart contracts can be tested before deployment.
- Ease of forking – It allows easy forking without installing additional software.
2. Truffle:
- Compatibility – Truffle is the Ethereum development framework that serves as a development and testing framework by facilitating Ethereum Virtual Machine.
- Testing Environment – It doesn’t support direct communication with smart contracts during testing and consists of a complex process for setting the testing environment.
- Local blockchain for testing – The truffle provides a development network to deploy and test dApp without the requirement to deploy it to the mainnet. It works as a local development blockchain for testing.
- Ease of forking – It requires additional Ganache installation for forking the blockchain.
3. Embark:
- Compatibility – Embark is the development and testing environment with Ethereum, IPFS, Swarn, and Whisper. It is known as the full-stack framework as it provides a complete solution for developing dApp (frontend + backend).
- It facilitates peer-to-peer messaging via communication protocols, such as Whisper.
- Testing Environment – Embark performs Test-Driven Development with contracts using JavaScript.
4. Brownie:
- Compatibility – Brownie is a Python-based development and testing environment. It supports programming languages such as Python, Solidity, and Vyper.
- Here, the contract testing is performed via pytest.
- Testing Environment – Brownie utilizes the pytest framework for unit testing. It enables developers to create elaborate and powerful smart contract test cases by leveraging this feature-rich testing framework.
5. OpenZeppelin:
- It is referred to as the ultimate smart contract toolkit that allows functions such as development, compilation, deployment, and interaction with smart contracts.
- Testing Environment – It allows direct interaction with smart contracts. It comes with an internal blockchain for testing.
- Ease of forking – They developed a modular system of Governor contracts to eliminate the need for forking.
The components of dApp architecture:
The architecture of decentralized applications is not similar to that of traditional applications. The decentralized application doesn’t have any centralized database to store the application data. This means that dApp doesn’t interact directly with the database but directly with the blockchain. The component of Ethereum dApp architecture is as follows:
- Ethereum Blockchain: Ethereum is a decentralized and open-source blockchain platform that forms a peer-to-peer network with the functionality of smart contracts.
- Ethereum Virtual Machine: It is the global virtual machine that implements the logical part of the smart contracts and executes the state changes that occur over the Ethereum blockchain.
- Smart Contracts: dApp utilizes smart contracts to automate the changes occurring over the blockchain. It is referred to as the collection of unique code that resides in a specific address over the blockchain and executes on the blockchain. It is written in programming languages such as Solidity and Vyper.
- Front-end: The front-end is part of dApp, using which the user interacts with the backend. The graphic user interface communicates with the logical part of the application.
PrimaFelicitas Tech stack for dApp development:
- Front-end application: The front-end part of the dApp is developed similarly to the traditional applications using HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, Angular, and React. The front end takes the inputs from the users/clients and builds the request to send it to the smart contract.
- Wallet: These are the wallets that enable users to connect to decentralized applications and sign the transactions, for example, MetaMask.
- Web Interfacing: Web interfacing allows the connection between the front end and the blockchain. For example, Web3.js interacts with the blockchain using JSON RPC (Remote Procedure Call).
- Smart contract code: Smart contracts are programs that govern the behavior of accounts within the Ethereum state. For example, Solidity is an object-oriented, high-level language used to write smart contracts.
- Blockchain: Blockchain is the digital ledger of transactions that is distributed and duplicated across the entire network. For example, Ethereum is the most popular blockchain utilized by dApps for data storage and smart contracts.
The key features of dApp:
dApps incorporate multiple benefits as compared to traditional applications. The primary features of dApp are as follows:
- Zero downtime: After the deployment of the smart contract on the blockchain, the dApp will always be available to the clients who want to interact with the system.
- Trustless computation: Smart contacts are recognized as trustless and guarantee to run in a predictable manner without any requirement of the central authority.
- Privacy: dApp doesn’t require any real-world identity to utilize or communicate with dApp.
- Complete data integrity: The data that is stored on the blockchain is indisputable and immutable. This prevents transaction forging of information that has already been published over the blockchain by malicious actors.
- Cryptographically secure: The users require private cryptographic keys to access dApps, which makes it more secure as cryptography verifies the user’s identity.
Develop dApp in four easy steps:
PrimaFelicitas designs and develops secure and scalable dApps (decentralized applications), embracing a wide range of industries. The experts transform the requirements into a robust and ready-to-use dApp. The following is the process used to develop dApps:
- Create the Smart Contract: The first step is to develop smart contracts, self-executing contracts containing the terms and agreements between the seller and buyers. These contracts are written directly into the lines of code. Smart contracts in the dApps are utilized to look up information and display state changes on the blockchain.
- Deploy the Smart Contract: The second step is to deploy the smart contract so that it becomes available for the users/clients. During the deployment of a smart contract, an Ethereum transaction containing the compiled code of the smart contract is sent without specifying any recipient.
- Create, test, and deploy: The next step is to test the internal behavior of the smart contracts as it helps in performing a detailed evaluation and verifying the quality of its source code. The tests are an essential step to test verification and similar features. For this various types of tests are used, such as functional testing, unit testing, integration testing, and system testing.
- Create the Front-End Application: The last step is to develop the front-end using which the user interacts with the application. After creating the front-end application, the smart contract is integrated with the front-end application using ABI (Application Binary Interface) file. The ABI file works as the interface for the dApps to interact with the smart contracts.
Decentralized application (dApp) Business models:
The dApp business models are the frameworks for identifying an organized way to make a profit.
- P2P Business model: The peer-to-peer model is referred to as the business model that enables end users to communicate with each other.
- Blockchain As A Service Business model: The BaaS business model facilitates advanced cybersecurity services monthly. The users can develop, manage and host the blockchain applications without developing their nodes.
- Token Economy – Utility Token Business model: The utility token business develops a token-based economy that permits service providers to facilitate better client services.
- Blockchain-based software products: This business model helps develop relevant blockchain use cases for different existing services and products.
Conclusion:
With a significant change in the technical backend stack of applications, the world is headed towards a new era of applications. Blockchain and smart contracts are the main components of this change that emphasize users’ privacy. There are different types of dApps currently being used in various industries, such as gaming, social media, banking, etc. The users are slowly adopting the change due to the potential knowledge required to analyze the difference between traditional apps and dApps. However, in the future, dApps will continue to grow exponentially.
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