What are Ethereum Tokens and what applications is it geared towards?

Question

I'm new to Ethereum and I'm not sure how tokens are meant to be used -- specifically, ECR 20 tokens.

I'm looking at an example here:

pragma solidity ^0.5.10;

contract Token {
    // An `address` is comparable to an email address - it's used to identify an account on Ethereum.
    // Addresses can represent a smart contract or an external (user) accounts.
    // Learn more: https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.5.10/types.html#address
    address public owner;

    // A `mapping` is essentially a hash table data structure.
    // This `mapping` assigns an unsigned integer (the token balance) to an address (the token holder).
    // Learn more: https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.5.10/types.html#mapping-types
    mapping (address => uint) public balances;

    // Events allow for logging of activity on the blockchain.
    // Ethereum clients can listen for events in order to react to contract state changes.
    // Learn more: https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.5.10/contracts.html#events
    event Transfer(address from, address to, uint amount);

    // Initializes the contract's data, setting the `owner`
    // to the address of the contract creator.
    constructor() public {
        // All smart contracts rely on external transactions to trigger its functions.
        // `msg` is a global variable that includes relevant data on the given transaction,
        // such as the address of the sender and the ETH value included in the transaction.
        // Learn more: https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.5.10/units-and-global-variables.html#block-and-transaction-properties
        owner = msg.sender;
    }

    // Creates an amount of new tokens and sends them to an address.
    function mint(address receiver, uint amount) public {
        // `require` is a control structure used to enforce certain conditions.
        // If a `require` statement evaluates to `false`, an exception is triggered,
        // which reverts all changes made to the state during the current call.
        // Learn more: https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.5.10/control-structures.html#error-handling-assert-require-revert-and-exceptions

        // Only the contract owner can call this function
        require(msg.sender == owner, "You are not the owner.");

        // Ensures a maximum amount of tokens
        require(amount < 1e60, "Maximum issuance succeeded");

        // Increases the balance of `receiver` by `amount`
        balances[receiver] += amount;
    }

    // Sends an amount of existing tokens from any caller to an address.
    function transfer(address receiver, uint amount) public {
        // The sender must have enough tokens to send
        require(amount <= balances[msg.sender], "Insufficient balance.");

        // Adjusts token balances of the two addresses
        balances[msg.sender] -= amount;
        balances[receiver] += amount;

        // Emits the event defined earlier
        emit Transfer(msg.sender, receiver, amount);
    }
}

The way I see it, tokens are a fungible commodity -- i.e, an asset, like bitcoin, ether, or real money.

I can see a potential application of it in a gaming scenario: win more points, get some tokens.

So is it really this simple? Just a glorified contract with a mapping of address => uint and some related functions?

If so, what are some other domains where this can model can be readily applied?

Answer 1

Yes, tokens are simple ledgers with some transfer functionalities.

They are used to represent some things: typically something completely new (gaming tokens, voting tokens, utility tokens) or sometimes representing a real-world asset (a share of a house, a part of a painting).

It's basically an easy way to represent ownership of very various things - with the twist that this ownership can be easily traded and transferred.