Web3 & how we got here
Web3 is an idea in development for a new world wide web centered around blockchain technology, with certain other concepts like decentralization, smart contracts, play to earn, tokens, dApps, etc. the name goes back to 2014, when it was coined by Gavin Wood, Ethereum co-founder. It wouldn't make sense not to talk about how we got here in the first place. So, let's take a quick ride back in time.
It all began in 1969, during the cold war, ARPnet (Advanced Research Project) was launched by the United States military to protect the flow of information between the military installations by creating a network of geographically separated computers that could exchange via a technology known as NCP (Network Control Protocol). The five major connected computers were UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Utah.
These first five major connections gave birth to TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol), Email, telnet, LAN (Local Area Network), in 1986, something remarkable occurred that would go on to give birth to what was known as web1. One of the LAN networks went on to form a network called NSFnet(National Science Foundation Network). NSFnet was the first to link together the five national supercomputers. This new breakthrough forced every major university to replace ARPnet with NSFnet, finally in 1990 ARPnet was completely shut down.
Web1 periodically dated to be between 1991 - 2004, most websites where static web pages and majority of the users where basically consumers.
Web2.0 dated to begin around 2004, brought a lot of changes like dynamic web interface and application, the idea of the internet as a whole being a platform for content creation but most importantly it is heavily centralized as everything is controlled by either service provider owners or content creation platform owners such as Facebook, twitter, google, etc.
How to get started in web3 as a developer
Jumping straight right into it, here are some of the basic things you need to know before getting started in web3.
• Learn about blockchains
The first step to take in order to get involved fully in web3, is understanding how Blockchains function. It's quite a piece of technology that is incredibly amazing, and would require some time to study it, if you don't understand it yet. Look no further as this a good place to look at https://medium.com/@EasternFace/a-detailed-re-introduction-to-crypto-currency-3fbc22ae6a2c
• Learn about smart contracts
I always say that blockchains would be very boring without smart contracts. Smart contracts are protocols put in place to help us carry out activities effectively on the blockchain without any third-party involvement.
Smart contracts can nearly do everything, from fungible and non-fungible tokens to the backend of your next decentralized app. They are, however, different from the code you usually write. They'll make up a good portion of your future work, so better understand them well. A good intro kick off that brings you up to speed with smart contracts: https://medium.com/@EasternFace/a-detailed-re-introduction-to-crypto-currency-3fbc22ae6a2c
• Learn about blockchain interfacing
Decentralized apps consist of two major components. They are: the frontend and smart contracts executed on the blockchain. For your frontend to talk to the blockchain, you'll need to interface with it.
This is where libraries come in. The most popular ones are there are two popular choices to interface with blockchains that implement the Ethereum API:
ethers.js
Web3.js
Do your best to learn any of them or both well because you will definitely need it. It's one of your most important tools from now on.
• Learn solidity
In as much as there are plenty of blockchains available with their unique way of building and deploying contracts, solidity is the most preferred smart contract implementation language at the moment. It serves well on Ethereum because it is hosted on the Ethereum virtual machine, It also helps you to develop smart contracts on other chains.
• Build your portfolio
The only way to gain attraction to your skills is by building a portfolio. You can do this by working on personal projects, contributing to open source projects, the task ahead is challenging and requires lot's of preparation. So you need to really get down into portfolio development.
Here's some things your projects should contain:
A frontend
A smart contract
Solidity code
Code documentation
Local test network setup
Continuous integration etc.
Some web3 terms to get familiar with.
Alpha
valuable or insider information, usually regarding the value of digital assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs; a measure of the return on an investment over and above the return offered by the market or other benchmark.
Altcoin or Alts
initially used to refer to any cryptocurrency that wasn’t Bitcoin, altcoin may now refer to any new cryptocurrency with a relatively small market cap.
Ape
someone who invests heavily into a cryptocurrency , or the act of doing so.
Block Explorer
a tool for browsing information on a blockchain, such as transactions, wallet addresses, market caps, and hash rates.
Bridge
a protocol allowing separate blockchains to interact with one another, enabling the transfer of data, tokens, and other information between systems.
Buidl
meaning “build,” a common intentional misspelling used in crypto circles in reference to the term HODL
• CEX- Centralized Exchange
a cryptocurrency exchange managed by a centralized business or entity.
• CeFi- Centralized Finance
centralized businesses that participate in crypto.
• Coin
a cryptocurrency built on its own native blockchain, intended to be used as a store of value and medium of exchange within that ecosystem.
• Cold Wallet
an offline device used to store cryptocurrencies. Cold wallets can be hardware devices or simply sheets of paper containing a user’s private keys. Because cold wallets are not connected to the internet, they are generally a safer method of storing cryptocurrencies.
Note:
Refer to https://unstoppabledomains.com/blog/the-web3-glossary for further term definitions.
Why web3?
Let me start by making it clear that the big tech companies responsible for content management on the internet have done a fantastic job of ripping us off for years, limitless control over our rights online and most especially intrusion of privacy with little to know action from the government. Our data, time, contents and overall activities on the internet is worth so much money. The tech giants figured this out, which gave birth to the advert industry that is worth billions in US dollars. Yet little to nothing goes to the original creators of these contents and that is me and you who use these internet services.
Web3 aims to put a stop to all these through the integration of blockchain, smart contracts and native tokens used for governance on the blockchains. That means, every user who's on the internet can easily monetize their activities online and actually get paid their worth, privacy would be top tier activity since blockchains use cryptography to secure data and so much more. The better times are here as that talent, skill or craft of yours can actually be truly priced for it's actually worth set by you.
Conclusion.
Here’s a quote from the U.S. Department report The Emerging Digital Economy:
"The Internet's pace of adoption eclipses all other technologies that preceded it. Radio was in existence 38 years before 50 million people tuned in; TV took 13 years to reach that benchmark. Sixteen years after the first PC kit came out, 50 million people were using one. Once it was opened to the general public, the Internet crossed that line in four years."
This report was made over 50years ago, with so much enthusiasm. Now compare the speed of things and development between then and now, you would notice that just when you think it can't get any better, something even way cooler pops up. The demand for web3 developers is at it's all time high now, take your time to get yourself prepared and spring into field action asap.
I would keep updating this article as I keep researching, make more articles on how to get into web3 as a Writer, Artist, Graphics designer, etc. Furthermore, I would be bringing you web3 development tutorials as well as other tutorials I promised. So stick with me as we get through these amazing times together.
