DEV Community: Judith Ogar

How To Deploy Smart Contracts to the blockchain with Bunzz

Judith Ogar — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 04:59:34 +0000

To write and deploy a smart contract, knowledge of programming languages like solidity and Rust is required. But if you do not know these languages or you do not want to go through the hassle of writing a smart contract, I have a solution for you.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to use Bunzz already created smart contracts and deploy it to the blockchain in 10 minutes.

Prerequisite
To follow up with this tutorial, you should have:

Basic knowledge of the Blockchain
MetaMask wallet already installed in your browser
Add and switch to Polygon network on your MetaMask wallet.

What is Bunzz?

Bunzz is a software platform that provides smart contract services to users. They carry out the task of writing these smart contracts for you, and all you have to do is select the smart contract you want, and deploy it to the blockchain.

Steps in selecting and Deploying a smart contract with Bunzz

Sign up with Bunzz

2.Click on connect wallet to connect your MetaMask wallet to Bunzz. switch to the Polygon network on your MetaMask wallet.

3.Click on create Dapp. Give your **Dapp **any name of your choice. Then click Next.

4.Select polygon Mumbai Testnet as the network name. Then click Next.
Note: Because this is just a tutorial we will be deploying to Polygon Mumbai Testnet. But when you are building an actual Dapp, deploy it to Polygon Mainnet.

5.Go to prepared templates.
You will see a list of already written templates/smart contracts awaiting deployment.

Note: To know more about all the functions available in the smart contract and to see the code. Click on the dropdown button

6.we will be using the first template named simple Token. Click on use this template.

7.Give your Token a name(any name of choice), and a unique symbol - if the token name is ‘JRocks Hospital Token’, then the symbol should be ‘JHT’.

8.Before you deploy, you need to have enough tokens in your wallet, otherwise, your contract will not be deploy to the blockchain. Go to polygon faucet and get free Testnet to use for deployment.

9.Click on deploy. your MetaMask wallet will pop up on your screen or you to confirm the transaction.

10.click on back to dashboard

11.Copy your contract ABI and contract address.

12.To verify your transaction, paste your contract address on PolygonScan Testnet

Congratulations🥳! you just deployed a smart contract without writing it yourself.

what next?
In our next tutorial, we will learn how to use ethers.js to interact with our smart contract and build a real life Application. Ensure you keep your ABI and contract Address from the smart contract you just deployed because you will need it.

change how you write CSS

Judith Ogar — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 05:14:09 +0000

Best CSS practices you should use

Judith Ogar — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 05:11:49 +0000

crypto wallets, types & the best one for you.

Judith Ogar — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 17:07:55 +0000

prerequisite
To understand this article you need to have basic knowledge of how the blockchain works.

What is a crypto wallet?

A crypto wallet holds the private key that gives you access to your cryptocurrencies which you will need to make transactions on the blockchain. The private key stored in a crypto wallet is what you will need to sign transactions on the blockchain. you can think of a wallet as the middleman between you and the blockchain.

You should know that a wallet does not hold the actual cryptocurrency for transactions, but a pointer(read as a private key) to the cryptocurrency.
For instance the actual wallet we all know and use. I’m talking about the wallets men and women carry around in their back pockets or purse. The wallet when checked, could contain cards (credit or debit), and passports. That card (read as a private key) is used to gain access to funds stored in your bank account. If you have a million naira in the bank, you can’t possibly carry the physical cash inside your wallet, but you can always use your card(read as private keys) that is inside your wallet to gain access to the funds in your bank account.

an illustration showing how a crypto wallet holds a private key which gives access to cryptocurrency

The different types of crypto wallet

Paper wallet is a piece of paper that has your private keys printed on it. It is an old but still valid wallet type for storing private keys. The downside is, if it gets wet, burnt, or even stolen then it’s destroyed and your private keys will be lost forever, as also your cryptocurrencies🥺. It is important that you look for a more secure way of safeguarding your paper wallet either by placing it in a safe, bank, or even underground🙃.
Now the good part. Your private keys can not be accessed by hackers online because a paper wallet is a cold wallet type so it is not connected to the internet.

Is paper wallet the best crypto wallet type for you?
The answer to this question solely depends on how often you will be making transactions on the blockchain and your purpose of buying cryptocurrency. If you are buying crypto to hold for a long time until the value appreciates, then a paper wallet could be a good option for you. Because you won’t be frequently making transactions on the blockchain and so wouldn’t need your private keys stored in your paper wallet often. You should as well do your own research!!.
You should read more about Paper wallets here.
Hardware wallet is a hardware or physical device used to store private keys, for example, USB drives. It becomes a hot wallet type when it is connected/plugged to a computer to enable the signing of transactions. And It is also a cold wallet type as soon as it has been disconnected from the computer. Threats from cyber hackers are reduced/low because the hardware wallet type is not constantly connected to the internet.

Is hardware wallet the best crypto wallet type for you?
Well, if you think the hardware wallet type will be convenient for you and you can always protect it from theft, and other kinds of destruction then it’s up to you to decide.
Software wallet is any software application used to store private keys. This wallet type is the most popular and widely used because of how convenient it is for users to frequently make transactions. It is a hot wallet type because it is always connected to the internet. A software wallet is highly vulnerable to attacks by hackers because of its constant connectivity to the internet. Examples of this type of wallet are:

meta mask
Coinbase
Trustwallet
Binance

Software wallets can be categorized into three (3) types namely:

Web wallet: this comes in form of a web browser extension. private keys are stored on the browser.
Mobile wallet: it is a phone wallet application that can be downloaded. Private keys are stored on the phone.
Desktop wallet: can be installed on your desktop. Private keys are stored on the desktop.

Is software wallet the best crypto wallet type for you?
We talked about the Paper wallet and Hardware wallet types, their use cases, and downsides. Compare them to software wallet types. Think about your needs and preferences. Are accessibility and convenience what you need? The choice is yours

How the Blockchain secures data using Cryptographic hash function

Judith Ogar — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 08:26:14 +0000

Prerequisite
Basic understanding of how the blockchain works

Basic understanding of how the blockchain works
What is cryptography?
What is the Hash function?
How Blockchain uses the cryptographic hash function.

What is cryptography
Cryptography is formed from the words kryptos meaning “hidden, secret” and graphien meaning “ to study, write”.
Cryptography simply means to securely write a piece of information or data so it cannot be accessed by a third party. This information is written through a process called encryption which means converting a readable/plain text into an unreadable form, and can only be accessed by the intended recipient through another process called decryption which means converting from an unreadable form back to a readable form.
Symmetric and Asymmetric are the types of cryptography. They both uses keys to secure information.

What is the hash function?

It is a function that takes in a random value as input and gives back a fixed length value as output. The hash function is a type of cryptography.

What's Interesting about the Hash function ?:

The same input value will always give the same output value no matter how many times the function takes in the input. This feature makes the hash function Deterministic.

“1234” => hashfunctions = 64ec88ca00b268e5ba1a35678a1b5316d212f4f366b2477232534a8aeca37f3c
“1234” => hashfunctions = 64ec88ca00b268e5ba1a35678a1b5316d212f4f366b2477232534a8aeca37f3c

2.It is so sensitive that even a slight change in the input will result in a completely different output. This feature gives the hash function the Avalanche effect.

1234 => hashfunctions = 64ec88ca00b268e5ba1a35678a1b5316d212f4f366b2477232534a8aeca37f3c
1233 => hashfunctions = a8119595d77342cc73c93697a7f70920d3f4ded5d458e31907607e997ff76868

3.It is impossible to guess what was the input value just from looking at the output. The output value cannot be reversed back to give the input.
This is similar to how once you make a milkshake or smoothie by blending oranges, bananas, and pineapple in a blender, it is difficult to change the liquid back to the original ingredients(bananas, oranges, and pineapple).

How blockchain uses the cryptographic hash function

One of the peculiarities of the blockchain is its ability to safely protect data stored on it from being altered or tampered with. The blockchain is able to keep this data securely by encrypting it using cryptography and hashing.

The blockchain uses the Asymmetric cryptography type also known as Public Key cryptography (PCK) for its data encryption and decryption. The PCK uses unique keys to store information. This unique keys the PCK used for securing and storing information are public and private keys which are also available on every blockchain wallet.

when transaction are sent on the blockchain, the details of that transaction forms a hash code that will be sent alongside the public key of the sender, to the receiver of that transaction. Remember what I said about the hash function been deterministic and having Avalanche effect?. Now, the sent transaction must be verified before it is added to a block. During the verification process, if any change has been made to the details of that transaction, the already generated hash code changes to a completely new hash.
once this happens, it proofs that the transaction has been tampered with. Which will make the transaction to be rejected.

In conclusion, the blockchain uses the cryptographic hash function to secure data in encrypted form which also makes the data immutable.

Is the Blockchain a myth?

Judith Ogar — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 17:34:20 +0000

why the whole noise about blockchain?

Everyone who works or previously worked at finance institutions knows that 'accountant' or 'boss' who kept on adjusting dates and amount of certain transactions, or diverted huge sum of money from the company into their personal account ... sounds familiar right?

Issues like this was what led two(2) researchers (Stuart Haber & Scott Stornette) in 1991 to work on a research project that would create a system where timestamp of documents, payment ledger cannot be tampered with which led to the discovery of blockchain!

Now, what is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a list of record called blocks that stores
data publicly and in chronological order. The information is encrypted using cryptography to ensure that the privacy of the user is not compromised and data cannot be altered. These Blocks have storage capacities and when filled are closed and linked to the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the blockchain.

You should know that this information(data) stored can not be edited which means it is irreversible and it is accessible for everyone who is part of the blockchain network to see.

Another interesting fact about blockchain is that it is decentralized what this means is that, these data is stored in thousands of devices across various locations, which prevents any attempt at altering the data if it was kept in a central location and was controlled by specific people only.

It was on the foundation of blockchain that bitcoin was built!