Smart contracts are the future of computing, period.

A smart contract is exactly what it sounds like. Let's take apart the word.

Smart. Contract.

Smart: Intelligent, sound

Contract: A document that is used as proof that a certain event must occur at a certain time.

Putting this together, we can deduce that a smart contract is a contract that can execute itself intelligently.

There is no erasing its outcome or trying to dispute it. The point is that smart contracts are always error free.

Imagine that Jack wants to send Jill 0.2ETH as a Christmas present.

He wants it to be sent at exactly 12:01am Christmas day.

So he created a smart contract that enables this action to be performed incase he forgets.

He puts in Jill's ETH address, along with the amount he wishes to send her and the time he wants it to be sent.

And that contract enters the Ethereum blockchain to be executed at the set time.

Smart contracts can of course be used for greater things other than just sending money.

They can be used to ensure that music that is downloaded off of a blockchain is paid for before it is downloaded. This entirely removes the problem of illegal downloads.

Other use cases are possible of course, but I gave this example to illustrate how it works.

Thanks for reading