Things move fast at Komodo Platform. That’s why the Komodo team has decided to release a weekly briefing to cover all of the progress the Dev Team is making. This series of posts is called the Tech Tuesday Updates.
In case you’ve missed a previous edition and want to catch up, you can find all the previous Tech Tuesday updates here.
Zero Transaction Fee dApps on Komodo
This may be seem redundant to some discord members but not in the view of the writer 🙂 Recently, an EOS block producer suggested that 0.0001 was too high for customer transactions. And maybe he’s correct. A dApp user will not likely pay fees. To suggest that $0.01 fees on KMD would price it quite high, which no one would argue as to the value Komodo offers, but the adaptability allows fee-less transactions for dApps. The scalability, for mass engagement.
How a dApp works without transaction fees using Komodo technology?
The first custom consensus module developed was a simple faucet. This is a blockchain-enforcing module to act like a faucet application. The developer can put application logic into their dApp upon opening to check wallet balance, if it is below a threshold then ask a faucet for some coins.
Don’t the coins cost money?
Not the coins for running the dApp. They are just coins to make transactions happen. The coins cost nothing, therefore the transactions cost money.
Where is the value stored?
A tokenized asset can store the value whilst the value-less coin is used for all transactions to make the application work. Thinking and using coins and transactions like any other HTTP client library making a request keeps things simple.
Any more questions on zero fee transactions, come chat in discord!
Multi-Plan Faucet Challenge
This challenge for kudos (and a small community bounty of 20KMD from the writer via the KMD tipbot in discord) has been mentioned a while ago and the following notes were taken:
- Create a “faucet2” custom consensus module.
- The easiest of all custom consensus modules is the faucet, which allows one faucet to be created on one blockchain. Like a singleton.
What faucet2 guidelines have stated are to recreate faucet functionality but with the added functionality of being able to create a “plan”. Many plans, one implementation of the one plan. So a blockchain can have multiple faucets for different purposes / target users / dapp usage dimensioning etc.
The “plan” method is already developed through the RewardsCC.
Any more information, please ask in #developer or #cryptoconditions on discord.
dICO App Updates & Market Maker 2 Nightlies
These early 2018 projects are receiving major updates for 2019. Major version number updates! Frameworks and languages to provide ultimate experiences are React for dICO and Rust for Market Maker 2. Marketmaker nightlies are available, please enquire in discord #developer or #marketmaker channels but please be aware this is not an announcement for testers, simply an update to the community that there are major updates and discussions between developer groups as to how to make this powerful technology work in very smooth way. We know how important this is to using crypto!
Bounty Work Rewards In Fiat - Agama Settings
Agama wallet has a feature that demonstrates the approximate value of the Komodo currency. It is not a marketed feature because ultimately it is a community price feed and we would not want a community member to have “angry customers” for development work.
Should the feed be from a commercial entity, they could brand their own wallet from the whitelabel Komodo version and provide extra 3rd party services like KYC, Fiat Gateway, Exchange Swap and dPoW Security Enhancements.
The settings for enabling this community price feed feature are in the app config accordion section (first expandable section)
Did you know the Agama wallet is being redesigned by a design consulting agency? Ideas By Nature did work with Shapeshift and Coindesk amongst other blockchain organisations and we look forward to continued collaboration.
PoS chains - a tool and some info for first ~100 blocks
If a new chain is created and configured to use proof of stake consensus (either standalone or split with PoW mining), the first 100 blocks are critical for early chain health.
Staking coins on all 64 segids is necessary to secure a newly created blockchain. The first 100 blocks have PoW enabled regardless of the PoS configuration.
One of the sub-projects from the STAKED chain repo from the #staked discord channel have a “semi-automated” splitter. https://github.com/StakedChain/pos64splitter
Some Komodo docs about configuration options for your blockchain are here https://docs.komodoplatform.com/komodo/assetchain-params.html#ac-staked
API doc updates for the upcoming developer journeys
With the new features arriving to the main Komodo chain, the excellent docs curated by the developer community will be complemented by updates to API docs. Some small portions have been copied into the API docs. We thank our team members gcharang for first producing the docs we rely on so much, and siddhartha-komodo for toiling through the RPC commands for CLI users and creating an all-in-one reference.
There are many new additions that remain to add from the custom consensus framework.
RPC Wrapper Documentation for dApp Developers
Javascript from the browser talking to the komodod server has been added to the developer journey. Browser javascript (es5) has been targeted for it’s ubiquity and cross platform strengths. Only early versions (very pre-alpha) have been created, but getting around CORS for blockchain education through the browser allows for quick start in the komodo ecosystem.
// configure rpc connection const rpc = control.connect("url","user","pass") // pass rpc config to the control group of functions and getinfo control.getinfo(rpc).then(resp => { console.log("Incoming response") console.log(resp) }).catch(function (error){ console.log(error) })
The earlier screenshot of the API docs shows a tab for javascript, this is for the browser version. Something like this can be used for proof of concept front end work. Remembering that each custom consensus module can have some web components that talk directly to the blockchain RPC functions.
Here we have the debug window showing the result of hitting the "GENERATE" button and the slider at "3". This example is a Komodo assetchain running in regtest mode aka standalone test mode on a remote server to expedite the developer experience.
Another one for python, which may come from the custom consensus framework which we've covered in previous weeks, or from the python integration tests. Other languages are likely supported by extending existing libraries from bitcoin-core (nodejs) and peercoin (java) as examples. These integrations have not been planned, but can be expedited if required by a specific well documented project.
Using a framework like Vuetify allows for the use of google's material design for mock ups and allows us to make re-usable web components for the ecosystem developers to quickly and easily test new ideas. This continues the vision of Komodo lowering the barriers to blockchain technology.
dPoW Confirmations Testing Integrated into HUSH - Komodo Next
HUSH and Komodo core dev Duke Leto first integrated python automated tests earlier this year from the zCash project. dPoW confirmations for exchanges (covered in TT #8 and in a dPoW information for exchanges blog post) is a new feature.
The HUSH project is a PoW mining chain and is triply secured by bitcoin hashrate and Komodo dPoW. Automated tests allow for smoother developer update and maintenance processes and any work towards ecosystem developer maintainability is welcome.
The simple explanation for exchanges is:
- Confirmations: 0 = transaction not confirmed yet
- Confirmations: 1 = confirmed on PoW network only
- Confirmations: >1 = confirmed and dPoW security enforced by 3 blockchains (e.g. HUSH + Komodo + Bitcoin)
More info in the dpow confirmation documentation page.
Komodo Discord Tipbot Minor Change
If you’re having a DM with your tipbot, you used to be able to call balance with !tip balance. This has been updated (probably long ago for some) so you can have a private chat with the bot to find out your personal settings (like balance, deposit address and withdrawing)
Interested in GUI dApps development? Discord's #cc_gui channel will be where most of the work will take place in the coming weeks.
Thank you Komodo (& ecosystem) developers, what an exciting week!