Data and analytics
Introduction
As utilization of the network continues to grow, an increasing amount of valuable information will exist in the on-chain data. As the volume of data rapidly increases, calculating and aggregating this information to report upon or drive a dApp can become a time and process heavy endeavor.
Leveraging existing data providers can expedite development, produce more accurate results, and reduce on going maintenance efforts. This will enable a team to concentrate on the core functionality their project is trying to provide.
Prerequisites
You should understand the basic concept of Block Explorers in order to better understand using them in the data analytics context. In addition, familiarize yourself with the concept of an index to understand the benefits they add to a system design.
In terms of architectural fundamentals, understanding what an API and REST are, even in theory.
The Graph
The Graph Network is a decentralized indexing protocol for organizing blockchain data. Instead of building and managing off-chain and centralized data stores to aggregate on-chain data, with The Graph, developers can build serverless applications that run entirely on public infrastructure.
Using GraphQL, developers can query any of the curated open APIs, known as sub-graphs, to acquire the necessary information they need to drive their dApp. By querying these indexed sub-graphs, Reports and dApps not only get performance and scalability benefits but also the built in accuracy provided by network consensus. As new improvements and/or sub-graphs are added to the network, your projects can rapidly iterate to take advantage of these enhancements.
Block explorers
Many Block Explorers offer RESTful API gateways that will provide developers visibility into real-time data on blocks, transactions, miners, accounts, and other on-chain activity.
Developers can then process and transform this data to give their users unique insights and interactions with the blockchain.
Further Reading
