All right. 1
So in order to progress in our knowledge of how to work with the Internet computer, the next big topic 2
that we need to tackle is this concept of cycles. 3
And this is what's going to enable us to actually deploy our creations onto the live Internet computer 4
network. 5
So what have we been doing so far? 6
Well, we've been doing local development on local host, and we're using a simulated version of the 7
Internet computer in order to get a good idea of lag times. 8
And also whether if the things we're building actually work. 9
So we're doing testing, basically. 10
Now, once we're done, what we want to be able to do is to deploy our apps onto the live network. 11
So then it's accessible by anyone across the Internet 12
and it's also going to be on the ICP blockchain with all of the benefits that it entails. 13
But how do we actually get there? 14
How do we actually deploy our app onto the network? 15
Well, once our app is live on the network, then it will start consuming computational resources from 16
these data centers across the world. 17
So there has to be a way for us to be able to pay to use those resources. 18
And the most common way is to get hold of some of these ICP tokens. 19
So these are the Internet computer tokens, and this is a tradable token that can be obtained in a number 20
of ways. 21
The easiest and probably the most straightforward is to simply purchase them or exchange another cryptocurrency 22
for your ICP tokens. 23
So, for example, if you go to a large exchange like Coinbase, then you can buy these tokens or you 24
can exchange your Bitcoin or Ethereum for these tokens and get hold of some of these. 25
So that's probably the most straightforward. 26
But in addition, there's a number of other ways. 27
And one that's quite interesting is through what's called the Network Nervous System. The internet 28
computer is controlled by what's called a Network Nervous System or the NNS. 29
And this is basically a governing system that controls all aspects of the Internet computer. That allows 30
you to basically time-log your existing ICP tokens and create what's called a neuron. 31
And then you can earn rewards by voting on the proposals. 32
So then you have direct control over what happens to the future of the Internet computer, 33
and in order to reward you for your participation, you earn ICP tokens. 34
The third way is to get a grant from the Dfinity Foundation. 35
So they've set aside a whole bunch of money, 36
and as a developer, you can submit a proposal in order to apply for anywhere between $25,000 to $100,000 37
in ICP tokens to help you develop your next creation. 38
And that doesn't come with any sort of caveats. 39
They don't get a percentage of your company or anything. 40
It's just a straightforward grant. 41
And the final way to earn ICP tokens is by acting as a data center. 42
So as we mentioned, Dfinity links together a whole bunch of independent data centers across the world 43
to create a virtual shared computer. 44
So that means anybody with the infrastructure or who can purchase the infrastructure and supplies the 45
electricity in order to keep these data centers running, will be able to run a node within the Internet 46
computer and they'll get rewarded in ICP tokens for keeping these servers up and live available for 47
people to use. 48
So through all of these methods, what you end up with is this ICP token. 49
And once you got hold of some ICP tokens, then you can actually burn these tokens and exchange them 50
for computation cycles in your canisters. 51
So essentially you're turning something that is publicly tradable, that can be exchanged, can be bought 52
into something that cannot be traded but has value because it keeps your canisters up and running or 53
allows you to store data or allows you to perform computations in your web application. 54
And you basically preload your canisters with this computation potential, which is called cycles. 55
right? 56
And as long as you've got enough cycles for the canister to continue performing its computation, then 57
it will stay up. 58
So it's kind of a similar analogy to say if you have gas heaters or gas burners at home and you need 59
to go and buy some propane in these cans and you store them at home so that you can use them as you 60
need them. 61
But then every so often you might run low and you have to top it up. 62
So how are we going to be able to get hold of some of these cycles so that we can actually get our website 63
up and running on the live Internet computer network? 64
Well, there's actually a way that we can do this for free. 65
The dfinity foundation offers a cycles faucet. 66
They're giving you free cycles in order to build on the Internet computer. 67
Anyone who has a GitHub account that is over 90 days old can get access to a free $20 worth of cycles, 68
which allows you to start deploying your canister smart contracts, to build your web3 applications and 69
to get a taste for how to work with it. 70
So these free cycles are what we're going to be using in order to deploy our web applications in this 71
course. 72
But there is a huge, huge warning that comes along with it. 73
Remember that these are treated like money. 74
Once you deplete your $20 worth of cycles, then you won't be able to recharge it unless you decide 75
to buy some ICP tokens and convert it into cycles. 76
So as we're going along the tutorial, I want you to be super careful, especially with deploying to 77
the live network, because the different types of computation on the Internet computer come with different 78
costs. 79
And you can see by far the most costly action you can do is to create a canister on the Internet computer, 80
which is basically when we first called deploy and put our canister onto the network. 81
Now, on July 26, 2021, it costs about 0.1 terra cycles to deploy a canister. 82
These days I've tested it out and it costs a little bit more than that. 83
So we have to be really, really careful when we use that dfx deploy method when we're putting it onto 84
the network. 85
And if you don't want to deplete your cycles prematurely and get stuck with no cycles or having to buy 86
ICP tokens to convert it to cycles, I want you to watch the videos carefully and maybe finish watching 87
the videos before you actually complete the actions. 88
That way we can try and conserve the cycles that we've got and use the cycles efficiently. 89
So now that I've put that warning out there, it's time to head over back to our project and deploy 90
it to the live Internet computer network. 91
So for all of that and more, 92
I'll see you on the next lesson.