What is Web3? Software engineer explains.

Tomasz Kania-Orzeł — Thu, 05 May 2022 15:58:39 +0000

Web3? What is this? Today I will try to answer this question!

What is web3 in general?

I remember when the internet changed from read-only to fully interactive and responsive. In the early 2000s appear a lot of social platforms with user-generated content, also in Poland.

That was the transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0. You - as a user create content on web 2.0, but you accept terms of services, and somebody could censor your content. And there web3 comes in here. But what the heck is web3? Why you should bother with that?

The simplest comparison is like monarchy and democracy.

Monarchy refers to web2.0, where you are dependent on centralized servers.

On the other hand, democracy refers to web3, where you have decentralized architecture without main servers, you have a peer-to-peer network.

You need to know that web3 is defined differently according to used technologies. Some of the devs talking about decentralization, some about cryptocurrencies, some about storage, some about coin economy (like Ethereum/Solana), etc.

In my opinion, the most universal definition is Decentralization connected with transparency of operations (Blockchain works in this way). The goal of Web3 is to build decentralized internet (yep you're right like in the Silicon Valley show!).

What I think about Web3?

Bitcoin and everything around blockchain started more than a decade from now, but many developers and users are used to web2.0 (centralized approach).

That's why many decentralized solutions, are web2.0 apps with guts filled with web3 technology. You are connecting through the gateway, just for user experience. You don't need to run your private node, you only use API from the vendor. That's why many applications (claimed decentralized), are in fact centralized 🙈.

This is not the goal of creators, but making it easier for users & developers. Another thing - Mobile phones. They are powerful nowadays, but it's hard to create Ethereum nodes on mobile devices. Ofc. there are plans for light nodes, but right now everything is in the stage of development.

Worth mentioning about other technologies connected with web3: IPFS, FileCoin, Ethereum, Solana.

Those technologies solve many problems connected with centralization. This is the same story when we don't have cloud solutions. For example, before the AWS, you need to create bare metal configuration or own hypervisors for virtualization (that was a problem with maintenance).

AWS solves issues but generates new ones: costs, centralizations, monopoly, vendor locks. The same story with web3 tech, they solve some problems with centralization but generate new ones. Complex deployment and development (you need to get more knowledge - Smart Contracts, Blockchain), to write applications. And you need to understand how to implement some solutions in ecosystems of blockchains.

On the other hand, decentralized technologies give you an opportunity to build applications differently.

Should you dive into Web3 right now?

Oh yeah! There are endless sources, where you can learn something new, new approaches.

I totally love the idea of IPFS (Interplanetary File System - this tech is a spine for NFT storage and FileCoin :)). There are tons of use cases to implement this technology in your own projects.

For example downtime proof website, like mine:
https://ipfs.io/ipns/ipfs.tomasz.kania.orzel.me

IPFS has the potential to distribute content (efficient access to data), when you download containers (Docker) download images or distribute videos. It's like the torrent peer-to-peer approach for HTTP (new protocol behaves like HTTP). Surprisingly IPFS is working through gateways (ipfs.io for example), or directly in your web-browser ex. Brave or Opera has native support

Blockchain concepts and everything around cryptography are very interesting topics, so if you are a developer, and you are seeking something new to learn, this is the next point on your bucket list. Learn how it works, maybe you came up with the next game-changer idea :)

Wrap up

Right now web3 is in the early stage. I think should take some time, when performance will be more robust. I only referring to blockchain operations in Ethereum (Solana has a goal to create super-uber-ultra-fast blockchain).

Worth mentioning that all blockchain mining operations "eat" tons of energy, that's why a lot of eco-activists talk about problems with energy consumption.

But everybody forgets about servers and datacenters. There are tons of very powerful beasts. Those take energy as well. This is the only point of view. Worth to checking this report (from Cambridge): https://ccaf.io/cbeci/index/comparisons

Either way, check IPFS and use Ganache to run Ethereum locally :)

Right now I'm working on the SingleBoardComputer cluster (build on top of Raspberry Pi & Rock Pi X) to check IPFS locally. Stay tuned.

Watch this on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tSNCbDjjzA

M1 for Software Engineer / DevOps

Tomasz Kania-Orzeł — Thu, 05 May 2022 15:29:20 +0000

TL;DR;

After 3 years I returned to macOS. And first full-time ARM-based laptop

The problem with M1

In Monterail more devs started using Macbooks with M1 chips. I noticed many problems could be solved very easily, but you should be familiar with M1. So I decided to move my entire workspace from Windows 11 to macOS with M1. Now I could help anyone in the team, without using a spare laptop. And I know the feeling to handle issues on M1.

M1 has many pros and some cons. For web/mobile developers in the first days of the premiere of M1, have a lot of issues. Libraries not working, there is a problem with Java, etc. But now everything works if you have a good project setup (building and releasing from the cloud, dockerized dev env). During the past year, many libraries/languages added native support for M1 🎉

Why 2 years ago I switched to Windows

When I saw commercials for Surface 7 Pro. I thinking about working on that kind of tablet slash PC! Good battery life, WSL2, a lot of good stuff. I discovered that WSL2 in daily work as Software Engineer is very painful at the beginning. You have problems with dependencies, running GUI (you need to create a bridge between HyperV and your host through XServer). And handling requests, running dev servers, etc. Same story with M1 now. But I thinking about it as a challenge because I'm Software Engineer and this is the only tool :D. The portability of a 12inch tablet always wins and gives me freedom in return. Better than a 13inch MacBook with intel :) Running docker containers, and very demanding apps was not a problem. Surface 7 Pro was fully optimized to work on Windows, that's why it working like a charm.

My point of view

Am I regretting moving from Windows 11 to macOS with M1? No. Longer battery life, very stable setup. If you are DevOps, gear doesn't matter, you should only think about terminal 🙈 If you can connect to a server, use your browser. That's great :) I'm glad that I could help anyone in the team to configure M1, and remove burden in projects to create better stuff

Last thoughts

If you consider using M1/M1 Max as Software Engineer or DevOps, and you have experience. You could create workarounds, handle problems, delegate some tasks to the cloud. I think this is a similar case to Raspberry Pi. If you have a problem with dependency you have options, you could recompile on ARM and problem solved.

Battery life and editing 4K videos are the best things in M1. I truly recommend M1 for experienced Devs, I hope next month brings more support for this platform :)

Watch this on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhm2gcYBnKI

DEV Community: Tomasz Kania-Orzeł