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Web3: Explain like I'm five

Updated
•3 min read
Web3: Explain like I'm five
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Abhiraj Bhowmick

You've probably heard of Web3 unless you've been living under a rock. Web3 is widely regarded as the Internet's future, and Web3 apps have recently become all the rage. What is Web3? How can developers create Web3 apps?

Let's get started

The first phase of the Internet, Web1, was mainly about providing online content and information. As such, Web1 was largely static and practically only allowed users to read information.

The cloud, which is a remote data storage and processing service accessible over the internet, powers most online services like email, social networking, and shopping. Cloud services are available through Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and other platforms. This means that any information shared by users on these platforms is stored by the cloud service provider employed by an online business, such as food delivery or e-commerce. That is known as Web2

Web3 is the next generation of the internet, with blockchain-based services. Data in Web3 is shared rather than owned by centralised institutions. Furthermore, Web3 prioritises back-end functionality, whereas Web2 prioritised front-end functionality. The advent of dApps, or decentralised applications, which could eventually replace standard applications, is another notable element of the Web3 era.

You may have heard about "Web3.js" while learning about Web3 and its practical uses. What exactly is Web3.js? The Web3.js library is the primary JavaScript library you'll use while creating Web3 applications. This library is primarily used to interface with the Ethereum blockchain. Web3.js can be thought of as an Ethereum JavaScript API. As a developer, you can use the Web3.js library to create clients or applications that communicate with the Ethereum blockchain. If you wish to properly deal with an Ethereum blockchain from JavaScript, you'll need to bridge the gap between JavaScript and Web3.

The transition to Web3 is, without a doubt, the Internet’s most significant paradigm shift since the emergence of Web2. So, what is Web3? Well, whereas Web1 was a largely static, read-only web, and Web2 was a dynamic, read-write web, Web3 will provide a decentralized, unmediated read-write Internet. Obviously, cryptocurrency is a key building block for Web3 since one needs to transact crypto coins or tokens to participate in them. But Web3 is a lot more than that and its use cases are still evolving. The best example of the Web3 universe is NFTs or non-fungible tokens, which are bought using crypto coins.

Though there is a lot of interest around both, experts said both are not correlated. The metaverse is about creating digital avatars and interacting with others in virtual spaces, be it offices or arcades. It does not have to be on a blockchain.

Most role-playing games offer similar services. Imagine metaverse as a role-playing game in a 3D realm. Microsoft is rolling out metaverses through MS Teams in 2022, which will probably run on Azure rather than Ethereum or Solana.

The whole point of Web3 is decentralisation. While building a metaverse on blockchain is a possibility, it does not make it a purely Web3 use case.

An example

Below, I shall list the differences between Web1, Web2 and Web3 for clearer understanding.

web1 - Web1

web2 - Web2

web3 - Web 3

Thank you for reading.

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Until next time, Abhiraj

#web-development#webdev#javascript#web3

Comments (3)

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Maxi Contieri4y ago

Great article!

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Abhiraj Bhowmick4y ago

Thank you very much, Maxi! Appreciate it.

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Olivier Pons4y ago

"You've probably heard of Web3 unless you've been living under a rock.". This instantly insult all people who never heard about Web3. And, implies you're cheeky, ofc.

Every single point said here is to the best not accurate, otherwise it's false.

So as it said: "it's explained like I'm five".

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Abhiraj Bhowmick4y ago

Thank you for the comment!

First of all, if you have any points, arguments, or opinions against mine, I would love to hear them.

Secondly, "Living under a rock" is a metaphorical expression. According to Merriam-webster, it means to be unaware of things that most people know about. A metaphorical funny line is not offensive. And even if it has been offensive to you, I'm sorry.

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Olivier Pons4y ago

Abhiraj Bhowmick Starting with such expression is offensive to any reader who has never heard of "Web3". It's ok for me, it's part my job, but in general this is not a good start for an article.

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Abhiraj Bhowmick4y ago

Olivier Pons Please don't misunderstand. If it is not offensive to you, that does not mean it is offensive to someone else. It is just a metaphorical expression that is supposed to be funny.

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M P4y ago

Olivier Pons Anyone who is offended by this is clearly far too fragile and delicate a creature to be roaming the internet without a chaperone in the first place.

This is either your fault for not ensuring you had a chaperone to ensure you stuck only to the cartoons and otrher kid-friendly content on the internet.

Either that, or your chaperone has done a terrible job and it's their fault for not protecting you from said content despite knowing your ego is made from dried, crumbly feta cheese.

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Olivier Pons4y ago

M P You're mixing everything. After teaching more than 2000 people, I know that there are a lot of sensitive people. And a lot of persons can easily feel offended. What you said can easily lead to things like "Hey, bro, I can insult all the women. ". And when you go in court, you'll say: "I was just joking, this girl is too fragile and delicate and shouldn't go on Internet". People like you might find normal to cross the line (otherwise you wouldn't write what you have written).

Abhiraj was much more delicate in his answer and I hope that from now on he might take in consideration that sentences which might be negative for some persons should be avoided, especially at the beginning of an article, and especially if you say "you".

Maybe if the sentence was "Everybody has heard of Web3 except the persons living under a rock.", this might be better because it doesn't imply directly the reader.

Try to teach something to some people, and have more human interaction: it will radically change your point of view.

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Waren Gonzaga4y ago

Awesome blog, however, I have a question. 🤔 Meaning, even if it is web3 then you still need a web server for it? How can you measure web traffic in web3?

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Abhiraj Bhowmick4y ago

Thank you, Waren! Appreciate the comment.

Web3 applications either run on blockchains, decentralized networks of many peer-to-peer nodes (servers), or a combination of the two. In web3, you can store the frontend in IPFs and use JS to connect to the chain.

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Waren Gonzaga4y ago

Abhiraj Bhowmick so the approach of web3 would be serverless? Mean you can host it as peer-to-peer with the main server? When we enter web3 what will happen to the service providers (tech companies who provide web servers)?

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Abhiraj Bhowmick4y ago

Waren Gonzaga

Actually, the approach is varied. As I mentioned earlier, most Dapps take the previous option. But however, web server providers won't run out of jobs, they may shift to creating cloud-based providers or work on IPFs. Some Dapps might even choose the option for physical on the web servers, so they would not stop making service providers. Hope I could make you understand.

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