Advantages and data load sharing of blockchain tech for consumer applications

Question

I want to have an application developped (for on pc) and actually I have several questions about blockchain advantages for this purpose and more. My blockchain of preference is naturally, Cardano.

I'm not pc tech savvy myself so pardon me if the questions might seem a bit daft to you.

The way I vision it is that blockchain is a kind of hyve technology and every point (node) in the chain communicates to each other and is actually one but at the same time many and at many places (decentralized) and so increases security and shares in the data transference / a.k.a. load. This last part is important for me to understand so as to find out if and how I can best use Cardano blockchain for the desired application.

When I launch a pc application, normally I will need to use servers to have the ability to scale horizontally and/or vertically to make available the application for download as well as updates, etcetera.

1. Is it correct to assume that when I have the application build on blockchain, that when people dowload / install it for use, that because of the blockchain tech, basically the downloads / updates and more will or can be shared by the network as a whole? And therefore diminishing or making obsolete the entire use of servers in the traditional way?

2. What other advantages might you get by building applications on blockchain rather than the traditional way?

3. The number of languages and manners through which one can build on Cardano is a bit dizzying to me. I understand that Haskell is quite a big deal to use and that most developers are not equipped to use this language. Therefore, what can you, the community advise on how to build on Cardano in the most reachable way?

4. The application I'm seeking to have built, has got to do with privacy and security. Since blockchain seems to be very good at reading and logging data, can a privacy & security app really keep people's stuff private on the Cardano blockchain?

So this covers my questions and I hope the community can be of assistance.

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

1.) So you would never have an app stored on the blockchain that clients download. By that I mean, you are not going to be able to store an executable on the chain. Instead you are more than likely going to build a smart contract script on the chain and build a interface (that is not on chain) to interact with it.

For an example of this, let's look at NFTs. NFTs are generally made for (but not limited to) images. These images are not actually stored on the blockchain. What is stored on the chain is a signed hashing of the image with a link pointing to the image. This meaning the image itself is not on the blockchain, as this would make the chain incredibly large. This process is significant because it allows someone to create an original copy of an image and the world can verify it.

In summary, servers still have a place in application architecture for blockchain applications.

2.) There are a lot of potential advantages. The biggest being an immutable public ledger.

3.) I would point someone to the Cardano Developer Portal.

4.) I couldn't answer this without a lot more details on what is trying to be accomplished. I would just say to think of blockchain as a public ledger and not a database.

I hope this is helpful! Welcome to the community!