Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.
In the Ethereum protocol and blockchain there is a price for each operation. The general ledger records these prices in ETH. The total supply of ETH isn’t infinite.
It’s algorithmically set to 18 million ETH per year, which reduces by half every 4 years. This makes ETH a deflationary currency.
The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network is called Ether. Ether can be transferred between accounts and used to compensate participant nodes for computations performed. Gas is the name for a transaction fee that is paid for each transaction or contract invocation.
The amount of gas required varies depending on the complexity of the transaction or contract, and is denominated in ETH.
Ethereum’s programming language is Solidity, which was created specifically for writing smart contracts on Ethereum. contracts can be written in other languages, but most developers use Solidity because it’s the most popular language for Ethereum development and it has good tooling support.
Ethereum’s smart contracts are running on a decentralized network of computers all over the world, which are collectively known as nodes. A node can be an Ethereum client like Geth, which runs on your computer, or an Ethereum mining rig that someone has set up to earn rewards for participating in the network.
Every node in the network executes every smart contract in exactly the same way, which makes Ethereum contracts very reliable and resistant to fraud.
The most important thing to know about Ethereum is that it’s a platform for building decentralized applications (dapps). A dapp is an application that runs on a decentralized network like Ethereum.
There are many different types of dapps, but they all have one thing in common: they’re powered by smart contracts.
Smart contracts are pieces of code that run on the Ethereum blockchain and define the rules of how a dapp works. They’re like programs that automatically execute themselves when certain conditions are met.
For example, a smart contract could be programmed to send money from one person to another when both parties agree to a deal. Or it could be programmed to automatically issue new shares of stock when a company raises money from investors.
The beauty of smart contracts is that they’re transparent and trackable. Because they’re stored on the public Ethereum blockchain, anyone can see them and verify that they’re working as intended.
This makes them much more trustworthy than traditional contracts, which are often opaque and subject to manipulation by central authorities.
Ethereum’s potential goes beyond simply replacing traditional contracts with smart contracts. It also opens up new possibilities for how we interact with computers and data more generally.
For example, imagine you wanted to buy a house without using a real estate agent or broker. You could use a decentralized application built on Ethereum to find other people who are interested in buying or selling houses in your area, and then connect with them directly to make a deal. No middleman needed!.
In conclusion, programming languages like Solidity help make decentralized applications possible by making it easy to write code that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The beauty of these applications is that they’re transparent and resistant to fraud, which could potentially revolutionize many industries by eliminating the need for central authorities.