DEV Community: sB

The Hot Web Balloon

sB — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 16:23:52 +0000

Data indexing protocols in the early days of the web were on a race to capture ~~data~~ users.
These services were rolled-out at a pace that accounted for real time as well as historical data_ data online or on its way online. A critical feature of services offered by search products from Google, Yahoo and MSN were their key feature of rapidly ranking websites according to relevant input keyword search results when queried, serving as an easy point of entry for most new users, as well as a critical tool for existing users.

Technology
Digital banking rails defined the nature of payment services offered online - how businesses receive payments from users. This can be seen in the timeline of services that were first offered online like payment processors and digital banking services such as Paypal and X, which enabled more businesses to join the hot web balloon.

Then the bubble popped.

A few decades later, some say we are at sunrise of the web in a new form.

Tegan’s take
Tegan Kline, CEO of Edge & Node - in a recent tweet celebrated the leading data indexing & curation role played by the The Graph protocol, as the top decentralized data indexing protocol, with no number 2.

@theklineventure

Models
Digital Native argues for AI models and products built around them as a revolution in tooling or production capacity, in light of the preceding web growth phase that transformed distribution.

Two bits split in the woods...
BitTorrent, a renowned peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, leverages distributed networks to facilitate the efficient transfer of large files without relying on centralized servers. Introduced in 2001 by Bram Cohen, BitTorrent has transformed the way users access and share digital content, enabling rapid dissemination and reducing the reliance on traditional centralized hosting platforms. The protocol operates by dividing files into smaller pieces, allowing users to download and upload these segments simultaneously, thereby optimizing the use of bandwidth and reducing the load on individual users or servers.
This decentralized approach promoted resilience and scalability, making BitTorrent an attractive solution for distributing large files, such as software updates, multimedia content, and open-source projects.

Then in 2009, along came Bitcoin.

💡Decentralizing the industry of finance creates new payment models for online services.
Thriving communities on the web are evolving beyond central payment processors and digital banking rails. Diverse groups are leading change that reflects relevant ideas of freedom and universal access. These are the active generations of user-focused developers, user communities they gather around, and products they embrace and fervently evangelize or look askance from - abandoned in shorter hype cycles.

So - where are the users ?

The first wave of responses to this question were faux pas of extreme proportions - informational materials of a distinctly technical flavour on one hand, and ICO waves of ‘numbers go up’ memecoins on the other. The less said of the latter, the better.

Why is leading with introductory informational material for non-technical audiences an error ?
A clue is that first phrase introductory.
Terse ‘explainer’ launch videos about cryptography and token fungibility is dead-on-arrival. There is a reason the whole world uses google, but barely a handful know how it works.

💡Users are looking to complete tasks efficiently, not just slurp more of the same sensory overload

Model evolution
Smartphone ecosystems unfolded as a camp split down the middle between Apple’s walled iOS garden and Google’s Android - everything else - Windows mobile OS , Nokia symbian OS- choked in the exhaust fumes of the top 2 systems accelerating growth & utility within strong developer ecosystems.

Almost 2 decades after, the smartphone industry is approaching maturity, evolving in its undisputed place at the center of daily routines, data tracking, and online commercial activity.

What came to define that era of successes and failures were Apple’s fidelity to excellent user experience, licensing all aspects of hardware & software production and distribution.

💡~~Where are the users~~ - where is the improved user experience ?

How many dapps and notifications will your insert user persona here launch twice a day and pay for tiered access?

This era of web evolution - it's clear winners - will also be defined by their strong developer ecosystem focused on excellent user experience and product utility, and execution of design-led initiatives. It's quickly forgotten filler characters will be markers of technology-led efforts that were doomed to fail.

How far into exuberance is this rising wave of evolution ?

Interwebs in Transit 🐎

sB — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 08:11:26 +0000

Let’s go back to 1997; early days of the digital frontier.

Y2K buzz hadn’t started yet, but something else was quietly expanding in the public sphere.

College campuses and businesses in the United States, and in other locations around the world were connecting to a vast information highway known as the internet. Titanic the movie was released in the holiday season just before the week of Christmas.

Remember, the Desktop PC was just in its renaissance, with Apple's G3 macintosh just released to target the home market.

The web was built on this computer internet connection, with its own lexicon; — web sites, web chat rooms, web logs - blogs.

The good old post mail box was transformed to email, retrieved from a suite in its own website.

Online chat rooms were instant messaging early sensations like Yahoo messenger and AOL. Websites at this point were static - pure html.

Wayback machine yahoo home page

Unique user interactions emerged from using these digital products in a different way from their analogue shapes.

💡 Form follows function

This digital transformation of existing means of communication is the archetype here.

What changed a little ?
Shopping catalogues and magazines became scrollable pages.

What changed a lot ?

User Behaviour

Chat rooms and other forms of instant messaging changed the speed at which information passed and processed — the feedback loop shrunk.

The web evolved to convey more design artifacts, with opportunities to model intricate user experiences through interactive pages. These new possibilities are the case in point of digital transformation.

Medium

Email served as the gateway to online experience, and became a means of signing up for web services on early popular websites such as ebay marketplace, amazon bookstore, forums and live chat rooms.

Digital transformation of a means of communication leads to a new stream of possibilities.
Each new generation of computers, from mainframe to desktop and handheld devices enables advanced applications and design. Feature phones evolved to personal digital assistants like palm pilot and blackberry, followed by touchscreen smartphones.

Apple iPhone as launched in 2007

The last few years of the 2000’s were within the transition from full-keyboard handheld devices to touchscreen smartphones with online app stores. A few projects were also working on building for the improved technology available on faster internet connections via 4G. A unique announcement within this period was the Bitcoin white paper.

Bitcoin built on the successes of BitTorrent, a renowned peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, that leverages distributed networks to facilitate the efficient transfer of large files without relying on centralized servers.

💡BitTorrent walked so BitCoin could run

Bitcoin running on its Blockchain also preluded advanced applications of distributed computing power, from verifying cryptographic computation to running Virtual Machines, distributed storage, among others.

The web is built on hypertext transfer protocol, HTTP. Search engines utilize algorithms to analyze and rank websites based on their relevance to the input search query. A search engine indexes bowls of instant alphabet😉pasta for each plate of menu items according to keywords, with sponsored ads from restaurants across town.

💡When doors change, the keys for signing access also change

Blockchain data are unique in form and function, queried using purpose-built software for its vast amounts of transactions between nodes and network users. The Graph protocol is a data indexing layer for blockchain data. Developers, or consumers, interact with The Graph Protocol through its well-defined GraphQL API.

Using email as sign-in option served as a precursor in using externally-owned wallets for authentication, signing transactions, storing tokens, and deploying smart contracts on blockchains and decentralized applications.

A case of discontinuous variation
The latest stage of web evolution is closer to a new specie than a bigger and faster child.

In closing, let’s frame these 2 decades worth of conversation.

Is Web3 more of the same or something else entirely ?

Cheers to the roaring twenties !

Account Abstraction

sB — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 08:20:07 +0000

Account

A door serves as a point of access to a building, and a key is used to access doors. Users enter buildings through doors, using keys. Blockchain users have accounts, and sign transactions using a pair of keys. Users interact with accounts (send, receive and store tokens) using wallets.

Account abstraction is a new standard for development on the ethereum blockchain where assets are held by smart contracts exclusively.

This new standard could also transform user experience of decentralised applications. In other words, users will unlock new doors differently.

Security & Scale
In the early days of the internet, few people knew about it. Interest and demand grew gradually then suddenly. There is an anecdote from an early member of the google engineering team that narrates spikes in website traffic on tuesday afternoons, and the race to grow server capacity exponentially as site visits surged.

User experience and account abstraction.

Products built on decentralized systems and protocols have mostly been a technology-led design, with an assumption that users will always follow the intended path. Examples include Passwords and private keys as means of user authentication. This system has been ineffective in authenticating genuine users, or securing assets from bad actors. Billions of dollars in hacks and unrecoverable accounts have proven this mismatched authentication problem. Widepsread adoption of products built on this technology has not happened yet.

EIP 4337 is a recent Account abstraction proposal on the Ethereum network.

What is different this time ?
This implementation does not require a consensus layer update.

Why does it matter ?

~~Build it and users would come.~~

Improved user experience drives widespread adoption.
Users are not looking for new technology to scratch an itch.

In essence, EIP 4337 will simplify the experience of users by abstracting smart contracts and account interactions. This will preclude key pair signing, enabling safe custody of assets by users.
If system design is built around user and developer interactions, then solutions can be exclusively built for purpose without compromise in security.

+ +

Account abstraction enables smart contract functions to have pre-signature requirements, enhancing user experience and opening up additional possibilities, such as ;

signless transactions
whitelist smart contracts
co-owned wallets
bundle sign

Components

UserOperations are pseudo-transaction objects that are used to execute transactions with contract accounts. These are created by applications. Users initiate actions, such as executing smart contracts or sending transactions.

Contract Accounts are smart contract accounts owned by a user.

Bundler
The bundler collects user operations from the mempool and bundles them into a single transaction.
Standard L1 Transaction: The bundler sends the transaction to the entry point contract as a standard L1 transaction.

Entry Point Contract
This contract receives the transaction , handles the verification, and executes the user operations.

With account abstraction, every account has its own logic and can initiate transactions and pay the fee (required to operate contract accounts), which opens up new possibilities for creating secure and user-friendly wallets.