What Are DApps: A Complete Guide To Decentralized Applications
Tags: javascript, beginners, programming, opensource
Published: 2021-11-03 23:55:54

## What is a dApp?
A decentralized app (dApp) is a digital application or a program that resides and executes on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network of computers rather than a single computer and is independent of anyone's authority's control.

DApps is short for **Decentralized applications** which means it is not controlled by a single organization and they are playing a vital role in the world of blockchain. These decentralized applications operate on a blockchain network in a public, open-source, and decentralized environment that is free of central control and influence.

Here is a great example of dApps by Cat McGee, which she mentioned in a  [Twitter Space](https://twitter.com/hashnode/status/1455453722948034563) organized by Hashnode.

You can create a Twitter-like dApp and deploy it on a blockchain, allowing any user to post tweets. Once they've been uploaded no one, even you (app maker) can **delete** those tweets.

![Blue and White Mind Map Presentation (1920 x 1000 px).png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1635980779353/sc9fmr_V-.png)

Some dApps features are 

- It is open-source which means that its source code is available for common users.
- When miners successfully contribute to the ecosystem, they are rewarded with tokens.
- It is decentralized and adopts blockchain technology. 

Now that you have good knowledge about dApps, let's learn what are their benefits.

## Benefits of dApps
DApps have many benefits, however, in this article, I have mentioned only a few of them such as 

### No downtime

There will be no downtime or restrictions as it doesn't rely on a single point of failure like a hosting server instead it runs on a peer-to-peer network of computers. 

### Transparency

Data from decentralized applications are stored on a public ledger, which keeps track of everything in a safe and transparent manner that ensures no one can tamper with it.

### Open-source

The code of open-source dApps is available for review. Because more input can be offered, and the entire ecosystem can be more adaptable, progress faster, and evolve more safely.


And yes, we all know, everything has both benefits and drawbacks, so here are a few Drawbacks of dApps 


## Drawbacks of dApps

### UX/User experience

It may be more difficult to create user-friendly experiences since setting up the tool stack required to communicate with the blockchain in a properly safe manner may be too difficult for the average end-user.

### Maintenance

Because every peer in the network must update their node software, running in a complicated environment dispersed amongst peers makes maintenance, debugging, and updates more difficult.

### Fewer Third-Party DApps

Sometimes we have to rely on third-party APIs to collect certain third-party information under the present centralized app structure. We don't have this advantage with DApps because there isn't yet a substantial third-party DApps ecosystem in place.

*Because DApps cannot access APIs through a centralized application, they must engage with other DApps for their API needs, which is also a drawback.*

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## Conclusion

That is it for this article. I hope you found this article useful, if you need any help please let me know in the comment section. 

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