B4J Question Web3X Ethereum - questions

[LucaMs]

@Erel wrote:
For the outside viewer these technologies might look like one big ponzi scheme. This is what I thought up to a few months ago.
...
Please feel free to start a new thread for any question or comment.

1. What do you think about it now?
2. What could it be useful for?

 

[aeric]

I just see blockchain as another tool in the belt that solves some problems and provides some interesting new opportunities in software development.

Imagine I created a software and I want to control the usage by implementing software licensing. I think blockchain or NFT can reduce or solve piracy issue.

 

[Mark Turney]

Imagine I created a software and I want to control the usage by implementing software licensing. I think blockchain or NFT can reduce or solve piracy issue.

I could be mis-reading in my early studies. But I believe that any code that becomes part of the blockchain ecosystem is by default open-source. However, the immutability of the block chain and inherently secure “chain” ensures that any gains, rewards … really anything … can’t be contested. Once a block has been laid in the chain, then it is unchangeable. Think NFT’s … you can prove ownership of the digital asset, but no one owns the blockchain code.

 

[aeric]

you can prove ownership of the digital asset

Yes, I mean the software is one form of digital asset, like song, music, movie, game or apps.

 

[Waldemar Lima]

how can i send tokens to another wallet ?

 

[Erel]

how can i send tokens to another wallet ?

Support for sending funds will be released later today.

I've decided to move most of the flow/logic to the B4X code as the Web3j implementation was not robust enough.

 

[Mark Turney]

Support for sending funds will be released later today.

I've decided to move most of the flow/logic to the B4X code as the Web3j implementation was not robust enough.

Thank you @Erel for creating this library specifically, and for the tools in general with which to code more efficiently.

I was also a bit of a late adopter of blockchain technology, because like you, I initially saw it as simply another Ponzi scheme or MLM. But for the past few years, I have given a fair bit of thought to how we as a society could use the distributed processing and storage power of technology to break away from our collective dependence on "Big [Tech] Brother". I never came up with a solution, however people like Nick Szabo have been talking about it for almost 30 years.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you develop, and I'm very happy I won't have to learn Solidity in order to develop for blockchain.

 

[swChef]

Folks might find this linked perspective interesting. Blob post by Moxie and a twitter thread of comments. Touches on Infura, dApps, etcs.
My first impressions of web3, moxie, Jan 7.

Read this item today.

Blockchain-based systems are not what they say they are

If you go out seeking to learn why blockchains and the systems built atop them are apparently the future of our web, you’ll begin to see some common themes. These fall apart under further scrutiny.

blog.mollywhite.net

Just early, higher risk times. Not enough decentralization yet.

 

[Mark Turney]

Folks might find this linked perspective interesting. Blob post by Moxie and a twitter thread of comments. Touches on Infura, dApps, etcs.
My first impressions of web3, moxie, Jan 7.

Read this item today.

Blockchain-based systems are not what they say they are

If you go out seeking to learn why blockchains and the systems built atop them are apparently the future of our web, you’ll begin to see some common themes. These fall apart under further scrutiny.

blog.mollywhite.net

Just early, higher risk times. Not enough decentralization yet.

Thanks for the links ... that made for some good reading, while I was BBQ'ing some chicken on the grill last night. I always wondered about the disposition of the "actual" digital asset itself. Is it embedded/encoded in the respective blockchain, or is it referenced with a link (URL) to a storage location? Apparently, there are "central" authorities which store in the cases within the documents above. I don't know if that is ALL cases, however, as I am still very much learning about this new tech.

But, if indeed there are only a few companies (currently) that serve as "hubs", then pure decentralization is unrealized. And if digital assets like NFT's are stored on any company's servers, then immutability can't be guaranteed.

Food for thought ... only enhances my curiosity .....

 

[Mark Turney]

Folks might find this linked perspective interesting. Blob post by Moxie and a twitter thread of comments. Touches on Infura, dApps, etcs.
My first impressions of web3, moxie, Jan 7.

Read this item today.

Blockchain-based systems are not what they say they are

If you go out seeking to learn why blockchains and the systems built atop them are apparently the future of our web, you’ll begin to see some common themes. These fall apart under further scrutiny.

blog.mollywhite.net

Just early, higher risk times. Not enough decentralization yet.

Some more thoughts regarding immutability and decentralization. I'm really immersing myself in learning about this technology, as it's nice to be in on something relatively early on ... "make hay while the sun shines" ... It's a hot area of interest right now.

IMHO, blockchain technology can be quite useful for the immutability of the transaction data & metadata (behind digital assets for example). For digital assets themselves, I think there is still going to have to exist some centralized storage. I see the future as a hybrid world ... Web 2 & 3 combined ... hopefully with the best of both.

 

[hatzisn]

I am completely lost about this technology. I have watched some YouTube videos in a few moments of free time while waiting for an e-mail response and though I 've got a grip of the general idea I got more confused. So here are my questions to the other B4Xers that know more on the subject:

1) Blockchain technology makes a block immutable, right?
2) What does this mean. Isn't the block a digital asset? Can you just flip some bits?
3) If doing this just renders it garbage then what happens to the rest of then Blockchain (I mean the blocks before it and the blocks after it)?
4) If there are several copies of this block (like files) what does this mean? I mean relatively to the cryptocurrencies. That I may own the same bitcoin with others?
5) I saw that Blockchain technology can be used for digital asset, cryptocurrency and also decentralized web apps. Right?
6) How is everything in question five connected to the fact that a block is just a bunch of bytes easily cloneable, I mean in a manner of assets of a company?
7) Is Web3X connected only with cryptocurrency transactions?
8) Is decentralized web apps as a part of block chain technology a new way of microservices or a new way of app copying to several servers? How decentralized web app Blockchain technology work? Why would someone spend his resources (f.e. electrical and computer power) just to serve my web app? How this affects the earnings of a company?
9) What is a DAO?
10) What is an NFT?
11) Do you want to go to the toilet, drink some water from the fridge, or have something to eat because a lot of questions like these keep popping off of my head but I 'd better keep them for another message...

 

[hatzisn]

I am completely lost about this technology. I have watched some YouTube videos in a few moments of free time while waiting for an e-mail response and though I 've got a grip of the general idea I got more confused. So here are my questions to the other B4Xers that know more on the subject:

1) Blockchain technology makes a block immutable, right?
2) What does this mean. Isn't the block a digital asset? Can you just flip some bits?
3) If doing this just renders it garbage then what happens to the rest of then Blockchain (I mean the blocks before it and the blocks after it)?
4) If there are several copies of this block (like files) what does this mean? I mean relatively to the cryptocurrencies. That I may own the same bitcoin with others?
5) I saw that Blockchain technology can be used for digital asset, cryptocurrency and also decentralized web apps. Right?
6) How is everything in question five connected to the fact that a block is just a bunch of bytes easily cloneable, I mean in a manner of assets of a company?
7) Is Web3X connected only with cryptocurrency transactions?
8) Is decentralized web apps as a part of block chain technology a new way of microservices or a new way of app copying to several servers? How decentralized web app Blockchain technology work? Why would someone spend his resources (f.e. electrical and computer power) just to serve my web app? How this affects the earnings of a company?
9) What is a DAO?
10) What is an NFT?
11) Do you want to go to the toilet, drink some water from the fridge, or have something to eat because a lot of questions like these keep popping off of my head but I 'd better keep them for another message...

No answer yet... I guess everyone is still researching it.

 

[Erel]

I'll try to answer. You can find more accurate answers online.

1) Yes.
2) The data is stored and verified on many nodes. No one can change anything in past blocks.
4) The data stored includes the balance of each account.
Lets talk about an interesting point. Blockchain solves an inherent problem of digital cash systems, called double spending (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubl... prevent,in offline systems, secret splitting.).
It allows person A to directly transfer funds to person B, without having a point where both persons "hold" the same fund and without a centralized third party (see the Wikipedia article).
5) Yes.
6) Blockchain provides a decentralized trusted database. No single entity controls it and all entities trust it. This is a big thing.
7) Web3X library provides access to Ethereum and other similar blockchains features. There are all kinds of features. Not just transactions.
8) a. The blockchain doesn't host your web app. It is only part of the solution.
b. Every action that involves writing to the chain costs ether. This is the gas component. These funds go to the miners.
9) DAO - The ingenuity of the ETH blockchain is that it doesn't just store data. It also has the ability to run code on the blockchain. The code is written in a programming language name Solidity and is executed in the EVM. It is called smart contracts. Once a contract is deployed it can never be changed.
This means that we can build a contract with the organization rules and deploy it. From that point no one can modify the rules, so the organization is decentralized.
10) You have $10 in your pocket and I have $10 in my pocket. These "tokens" are equivalent. You have a car (I'm guessing) and I have a car. These cars are not identical. Each car is unique.
We can track car ownership on the blockchain and each car will have its own specific id. Each car is a non fungible token (NFT).
11) Yes.

 

[Mark Turney]

This free training by freeCodeCamp on YouTube is excellent. If you just want to watch the first 1.5 hrs, you will gain a deep understanding of how blockchain technology works. The other 14.5 hrs is related to development. I'm watching the whole thing just because it is so thorough, but I plan to utilize B4x for my development work of course .

I find understanding blockchain technology to be a work in progress ... and just like quantum mechanics*, and as alluded below, maybe no-one fully understands it....

*It is tempting, faced with the full-frontal assault of quantum weirdness, to trot out the notorious quote from Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman: “Nobody understands quantum mechanics.”

 

[aeric]

This free training by freeCodeCamp on YouTube is excellent. If you just want to watch the first 1.5 hrs, you will gain a deep understanding of how blockchain technology works. The other 14.5 hrs is related to development. I'm watching the whole thing just because it is so thorough, but I plan to utilize B4x for my development work of course .

I find understanding blockchain technology to be a work in progress ... and just like quantum mechanics*, and as alluded below, maybe no-one fully understands it....

*It is tempting, faced with the full-frontal assault of quantum weirdness, to trot out the notorious quote from Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman: “Nobody understands quantum mechanics.”

I stopped at 2:25:56

 

[Mark Turney]

I stopped at 2:25:56

I admit I skimmed from about hour 2 to hour 16 .

 

[aeric]

I admit I skimmed from about hour 2 to hour 16 .

I roughly get the idea of Solidity. Until one day I need to build an app on blockchain tech, I will skip it for now.

 

[Mark Turney]

I'm still exploring the blockchain world, and have come across LBRY. LBRY is the blockchain which supports Odysee, a decentralized "YouTube". I'm very interested in all this tech, mainly for the ability to free ourselves of too much oversight, censorship and government control. Remember, if something is "free", then YOU are the product. That being said, it looks like we can use B4x to develop web apps, and the LBRY API to add content to that blockchain. Has anyone explored this yet? I would love not to reinvent the wheel if someone has already started the process. Thanks !

 

[Mashiane]

A friend of mine sent me this link. I think for now this is the area I am interested, doing something similar.

E-Livestock Global Launch Mastercard Blockchain-Based Solution

newsroom.mastercard.com

However off course I dont know where to start with something like this.

 

[Mark Turney]

I set up Truffle/Ganache and ran the Project created by @Erel (here). But, for the life of me, I can't figure out why the 'Send' button remains 'not visible'. I've entered the private key of one account, and trying to test send 1 ETH to a different account. 'Send' stays grayed out. No errors in the log, and logging is enabled. Thanks in advance.

 

[Erel]

What do you see in the logs (in the TextArea)?