This chapter covers
- Comparison of application architectures between Web2 applications which are centrally managed and Web3 applications which operate peer-to-peer.
- Mechanics for distributing, managing, and upgrading Web3 applications.
- An overview of the blockchain landscape and newer zero-knowledge technologies.
After reading Chapter 1, you now know the concrete definition of Web3 and an introduction to how it is changing application architecture. Although Web3 is much larger than just blockchain; blockchain still plays a large role in Web3, by making mechanics such as payments, able to operate peer-to-peer. In this chapter, you will get an extended explanation of all things blockchain. How they function underneath, what makes them secure, their performance, as well as direct comparisons of the now extensive range of blockchain formats and features. By the end of this chapter, you will have a solid foundation to investigate and choose blockchains to use in your next Web3 project …if required.
By pulling back the curtain on how a blockchain functions underneath, you can begin to understand how a blockchain can support an application operating without a central trusted party. Perhaps the most simple explanation of blockchain would be to define it as a chain of blocks that handle the storage of a system’s state.