A decentralized application, or dApp, is an app whose backend logic runs on a blockchain as one or more smart contracts, while the user interface looks and feels like a normal web app. Instead of a username and password, users connect their own wallet, and every action that changes data is a transaction they sign themselves.
You'll start with the architecture of a dApp: the front end, the wallet, the blockchain node and the contract. Then you'll connect a web page to MetaMask with Ethers.js, read data from a contract, and send transactions to it. The module finishes with a complete full-stack dApp built with Solidity, Hardhat, Ethers.js and Next.js, tested and deployed to a local blockchain.
Once you can build a working dApp, you'll be ready for the next module, DeFi, Tokens & NFTs, which looks at the token standards and financial applications that dApps are most often built around.
An introduction to decentralized applications: how they differ from traditional apps, how they run on blockchains such as Ethereum, and the main categories such as DeFi, gaming and DAOs.
A hands-on look at connecting a web page to a user's MetaMask wallet with Ethers.js, so the front end can read the account and interact with a smart contract.
A complete project from contract to interface: writing a staking contract, testing it, deploying it to a local blockchain and building the Next.js front end that talks to it.