Special Topic

Description

COSC473-24S2 SPECIAL TOPIC: DECENTRALISED APPLICATIONS ON THE WEB

DESCRIPTION
This course covers a variety of techniques for developing decentralised web applications that do not require centralised servers to function. Students will learn about advanced web programming technologies as well as the latest methods and research in decentralised computing.

Since the early 2000s a wide variety of peer-to-peer technologies have been developed which allow people to digitally share information without centralised servers or gateways. However, until recently developing decentralised peer-to-peer applications required navigating a number of complex underlying network details. The development of better tooling that abstracts away many of these complex network details–along with other innovations such as Turing complete programming environments running on blockchain networks–make it easier to build decentralised applications than ever before.

This course will introduce students to current research and trends in decentralised applications on the Web. Topics will include using the libp2p networking API to build peer-to-peer applications, the IPFS data transfer protocols, real-time collaboration in peer to peer networks, and the development of smart contracts for decentralised applications running on blockchain networks. For all these topics, the primary focus will be on the application layer and how to develop decentralised applications, though occasionally we will need to dive into the lower layers of the network stack. The course includes hands-on programming tutorials alongside lectures, and students will use the Typescript and Rust programming languages and WebAssembly learning about their use in decentralised systems.

The course is open to postgraduate students from a variety of programming backgrounds; students who have taken SENG365 and/or COSC364 will likely find ways to build off what they learned in those courses.