One of the first things a developer has to do when he or she intends to start creating software is make some research about the tools that are available to do so. In this post I will tell my experience working with Ethereum and introduce the micro project that I built from this knowledge.

New Rich on the Block (NRB)

http://newrichontheblock.com

This is a simple project in which the richer users in cryptocurrencies can compete and show off of their status quo as new millionaires due to this technology. There is a ranking for each currency, although currently only the currencies with the greatest potential on the Ethereum platform are listed.

Each user can upload an image, introduce a title and a text which will be stored in the Ethereum blockchain using smart contracts.

Token Four Leaf Clover (FLC)

It is an extremely rare ERC20 token, which will be distributed among the first users of this ranking in order to promote adoption and encourage participation. Currently this token represents nothing, but in the future it will be used as a target to reward with airdrops with tokens from my future projects.

Architecture (NRB)

The entire DApp consists of three fundamental parts:

1. Front end (html5) & Metamask
2. Backend (php and mysql)
3. Ethereum (Smart Contracts)

If you are a developer and you are interested in the technical detail, I invite you to read this post where I also tell how to work with ERC20 Tokens using intelligent contracts on Etyhereum.

Disappointment and discarding

Ethereum has the great advantage of being the first of its kind and therefore there is a large community of developers, lots of tools and tutorials everywhere. However at the moment of truth leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm not going to talk about the problems of being a user of the platform because I assume you already know them. I'm efering to the costs of commission, the delay in confirmation, plus the difficulty of starting to use it since it does not have friendly systems that keep users away from technical details.

I will tell you in little detail some of the most serious problems that I faced.

1. Language limitations:
   The total size of your smart contract code can not be too big because you will not able to deploy it. It is also not possible to have functions with too many parameters, which sometimes makes it difficult or impossible to implement complex logic.
2. Lack of libraries:
   Solidity is a new language therefore there are almost no libraries that solve basic things like string parsing or list sorting, forcing you to implement part of the logic outside of intelligent contracts, which destroys all the magic.
3. Deployment costs:
   Part of the solution could be modularizing the logic and create not one but several intelligent contracts interacting with each other. However, the deployment cost is multiplied by each smart contract.
4. Lack of communication with the outside world:
   This is a problem that is actually inherent in the technology and therefore present in all the blockchains (I assume). Anyway, in Ethereum the solution is to use the Oracle strategy, which implies costs of execution only to get data from the outside world.

If you are interested in knowing my technical experience in more detail, I recommend you read this post where I expose the intelligent contracts, I tell how to work with ERC20 Tokens of Ethereum and I describe in more detail the limitations that I found.

Conclusion

Ethereum may be the best school to start learning about this technology but it does not serve to develop large applications such as a social network. This experience of mine was at the end of last year, but it has not changed much since then.

Currently I am working with my team in the development of our project, which will run on the EOS blockchain, since it fully meets the requirements of our DApp.

In my next post I will be formally presenting the project, where we will also be giving away Tokens to promote it. Do not stay without being notified. Follow me on Steem and you will be notified.