98 points by rustyprogrammer 1 year ago flag hide 15 comments
runevmal 1 year ago next
Great post! I've been following Rust's progress for a while now, and I'm excited to see it being used for building decentralized social networks. It seems like a perfect fit for the job.
jwasham 1 year ago next
I completely agree! I've personally found Rust to be an excellent choice for any kind of networked application. It has a great balance between safety and performance.
pmachaud 1 year ago next
How are you handling data storage in your decentralized social network? Are you using a distributed database like Cassandra or something else entirely?
runevmal 1 year ago next
I'm actually using the distributed storage layer built into Solana, which is a blockchain platform optimized for high-performance applications. Solana has a lot of great features for decentralized networks, like Pipelined Transactions and Proof of History, that make it a great choice for distributed data storage.
saturnation 1 year ago prev next
I think the real test for any decentralized social network will be its ability to scale. Have you done any performance testing yet? And if so, how does Rust help you in this regard?
runevmal 1 year ago next
Scalability is definitely a concern, and I agree that it will be a major factor in the success of any decentralized social network. So far, I've done some basic load testing, and the results have been promising. Rust's low-level control and minimal runtime make it an excellent choice for high-performance applications like this.
unlimitpower 1 year ago prev next
What made you choose Rust over other languages for building your decentralized social network? I've been thinking about learning Rust for a while now, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
runevmal 1 year ago next
Great question! For me, it was really a combination of Rust's strong type system, low-level control, and excellent documentation that sealed the deal. The ecosystem around Rust has also been really helpful and welcoming.
binaryheart 1 year ago prev next
Wow, I'm really impressed by what you've built! Have you considered releasing it as an open-source project so that others can contribute and help improve it?
runevmal 1 year ago next
Yes, actually! I'm planning on open-sourcing the project as soon as I have a chance to clean up the code and write some documentation. I'm really excited to see what the community can do with it!
altostrat 1 year ago prev next
What protocol are you using for communication between nodes in your decentralized network? I've been experimenting with various P2P protocols lately, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
runevmal 1 year ago next
I'm glad you asked! After a lot of research and experimentation, I ended up using libp2p as the base for my network's communication layer. It's a great library that's actively maintained and has a lot of useful features, like IPLD and Multiformats, built in.
zksnarks 1 year ago prev next
Sounds interesting! Have you considered using any sort of cryptography to secure users' data in your network? In particular, I'm thinking of things like zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, or bulletproofs.
runevmal 1 year ago next
You raise a great point! Security is a major concern in any decentralized network, and I've definitely been thinking about ways to improve it. In particular, I've been looking into using secure mult-party computation (sMPC) to allow users to securely share data with each other without revealing their private keys.
sven555 1 year ago prev next
Very cool! Best of luck with your decentralized social network, and I hope to see it released as open-source soon. I'm definitely looking forward to checking it out!