DEV Community: pauline-banye

Create your first Smart contract with Remix (Noob friendly)

pauline-banye — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 05:20:12 +0000

As the buzz around Web 3 intensifies, the interest in Blockchain technology has skyrocketed. In the tech industry, it's becoming common for developers who have experience coding with Python or JavaScript to start learning Rust, Yul and Solidity - languages used for writing smart contracts and creating decentralized applications (dApps).

This article would focus on the basic steps for creating and compiling a very simple contract but before we get started, here’s a brief overview about smart contracts and dapps.

WHAT ARE SMART CONTRACTS AND DAPPS?

Smart contracts are simply automated computer codes that run on a decentralized blockchain network. They are digital contracts which are executed automatically, without a third party, when the terms of an agreement are fulfilled. For example, you could purchase an NFT virtually and immediately the payment is received, you are in possession of your newly minted NFT without having to go through an agent or third party.

DApps are applications but unlike regular applications, they run on a decentralized peer-to-peer network. You can think of a dApp as an app with a combination of a frontend interface users can interact with and a smart contract as the backend.

What is a decentralized network?

The concept of decentralized networks can be a bit confusing but the easiest way to explain is by comparing it to a centralized network. A centralized network is one which operates off a single server that handles all the data and processing needs. Majority of the apps we use currently are hosted from one central server. If that server goes down, that site or app is down until the server is back up.

However, a decentralized network is the exact opposite. Sites are hosted by multiple independent servers, also called nodes, each with the same exact copy of information. Thus, if there’s a problem with one server, the site would still function without interruptions.

Now that you have a better idea of what smart contracts are, let's start writing one!

For this tutorial, we’ll create a smart contract using Solidity in 4 steps; writing, compiling, deploying and verification. All these steps can be performed using various software but to make this as simple as possible, all we require are:

Remix: an extremely convenient medium for writing smart contracts with solidity. You could either use the browser extension or download the free desktop application.
Metamask chrome extension
Rinkeyby testnet

WRITING THE SMART CONTRACT WITH SOLIDITY

In this mini tutorial, we will create a simple file that sets a message input and returns that input when a view function is called.

So let's get started!

First, navigate to the remix website on your browser. Remix comes with a default workspace, which you can work with or create another.

You would notice that several files and folders have been created by default, including a contracts folder. Within the contracts folder, create a file with a .sol extension and input the following code.

Okay, time to deconstruct this code!

The SPDX License identifier refers to the license for the file. It could be open source, business, private etc. Here we used the open source GPL 3.0 license.

Pragma solidity specifies the solidity version for the file. It is a very important requirement as the file would not compile without it.

HelloWorld is the name assigned to this contract and "string public message" defines a state variable for the contract.

State variables are variables which are stored in the smart contract permanently.

"string" specifies that the datatype for this variable is a string.
"public" is a term in solidity which defines the visibility of the contract. When public is assigned to a function or variable, it means that the function or variable can be called from within and outside the contract.
"message" is the name assigned to the variable. Note* the variable can be named anything. For example, foo, bar, house etc.

setMessage and viewMessage are functions. Functions are groups of reusable codes that can be used anywhere in the contract. Function setMessage assigns a value to the variable message while viewMessage simply returns the current message value.

COMPILING THE SMART CONTRACT

Now that we have our codes, we need to compile them into a format, which the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) can read.

An EVM is an isolated virtual sandbox for running Ethereum smart contracts. Basically It's responsible for executing all contracts without access to the internet or other outside influences.

The EVM cannot read high level languages like solidity. For it to understand smart contracts, the codes need to be converted into a machine readable format.

In Blockchain programming, we use a tool called a compiler, which simply interpretes our source codes into opcodes, the instruction/operational language the EVM understands.

Luckily, Remix has a built-in compiler so we don't require another tool to convert our codes before deployment. All we need to do is select the file we intend to compile, specify the compiler version, the language we used for writing our codes (solidity in this case), any other optional parameters and click on the compile button.

Once our smart contract has compiled successfully, a green tick indicator is visible, then we can move on to the next step - deployment!

5 Foolproof Reasons Why You Must Use Digital Marketing To Promote Your Business.

pauline-banye — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 23:14:16 +0000

Are you looking for an effective way to drive business, increase your client base and supercharge your earnings? Then you need to incorporate an effective digital marketing strategy immediately!

What is digital marketing?

We hear the word digital marketing quite frequently but, what is it exactly? In layman terms, digital marketing is simply the promotion of goods and services using the internet.

Traditional methods of marketing required you to physically engage with your customers by contacting them at specific locations just to make sales.

Don’t get me wrong, it works... but allow me to outline five ways digital marketing can achieve the same result, on a much larger and effective scale.

Increase potential customers.

Do you remember the days when you would print flyers and go to church to advertise ForeverLiving products? Why? Because that’s where the largest crowd was!

Not anymore! Digital marketing has made it easy for you to connect with potential clients where they spend most of their time – on social media!

Facebook and Instagram alone have a staggering 2.8 billion and 1 billion active monthly users respectively. If you target a fraction of clients on these platforms, imagine what your account balance would look like!

Using regular marketing methods, how many church services would you have to attend to reach that same number of potential customers?

Target your ads.

Digital marketing provides you with tools to help you target your ideal client base. You are no longer advertising to random people, you begin to target specific customers who are in need of your product and are more likely to buy from you!

Reduce your budget.

You can advertise digitally no matter how small your budget is. This levels the playing field, especially for small businesses, who typically wouldn’t be able to compete with the advertising budgets of larger companies.

Adjust your ads.

With digital marketing, you have the ability to run multiple ad campaigns and as a bonus, gather information which can be used to adjust your advert strategy easily. You can review the ads that underperform and adjust immediately. This is not possible with traditional marketing campaigns.

Track your conversion rates.

The rate at which people purchase your products compared to the total visitors to your site, is referred to as the conversion rate. You can use this powerful tool to identify where most sales are generated and what your clients like to purchase.

Traditional marketing cannot capture this accurately. How much consistent profit could you make if you stock items that your customers buy readily without thinking twice?

Quite frankly, there are numerous upsides to digital marketing. Leverage on this and the growth of your business would amaze you!

To recap

It gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience.
Digital marketing provides tools to help you target your ideal customers.
It is cost effective compared to traditional marketing methods.
It enables you to adjust your ad strategy easily.
Using digital marketing, you can track your conversion rate.

So take the plunge today! Start taking advantage of this surefire method to increase your sales and start smiling to the bank!

Bitcoin Hacker?

pauline-banye — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 17:52:22 +0000

Ben's finally getting married! He's been a "shag them and leave them" kind of guy since freshman year in college. I can't believe it even though I just got home, jeans covered in glitter from the stripper at his bachelor's party. Damn, it's really happening.

Feeling a little bit tipsy but way too edgy to sleep, I play around with the dapp I'm currently building. Solidity - what a novel concept. 2 hours in and I can barely keep my eyes open. Alright..time to call it a night.

I wake up with a pounding headache, grab some tylenol & orange juice, time to check my coins. I log in to my wallet and almost spill juice all over my keyboard. "Holy shit!! What the hell?!" 500000 BTC and 100+ NFTs including 15 bored ape guys? Is this some kind of a joke?

I blink rapidly. Log out and log back in. Yep, still there. Someone's gotta be messing with me. I check the address. The numbers are unfamiliar. Wait!...this isn't my wallet.

But..how's this even possible? Thoughts swirling..how did I get access?
Holy shit! Did my drunken binge suddenly turn me into the 1st Bitcoin hacker? Should I report this? Transfer everything to my wallet? I mean anyone who has this kind of money must be into some really bad shit right?