All computers on the Internet have a unique number called an IP address. These IP addresses are fine for computers, but they are neither intuitive nor easy to remember. Just as it would be much easier to call your telephone "fred phone" rather than have to remember (012) 3456 7891, it would be nice to have some way of replacing an IP number like 234.12.34.212 with a simple alias.
Well, such aliases already exist. They are called "domain names". A domain name is divided up into 3 sections. Let's look at the following [fictional] domain names to see how it works:
funny.comedian-actor.com
In this example, ".com" is the top domain, "comedian-actor" is the sub-domain and "funny" is an extra bit that was glued on later.
fish.catch-it-in.net
Again, ".net" is the top domain, "catch-it-in" is the sub-domain and "fish" is an extra bit of the domain name.
Think of these domains as a tree. You are standing at the foot of the tree, and you want to reach the house your friend built rather precariously on an outlying branch. He could supply you with a list of instructions like "Take the second branch on the left", "Climb past the knot-hole and take the third branch on the right" or "Watch out for the squirrels!" and eventually you would no doubt reach his house.
On the other hand, if each branch of the tree had a unique name, the instructions would be much simpler to follow. "Take the .com branch then the comedian-actor branch to get to my village. My house has a funny nameplate outside. You can't miss it." You would soon be sitting in front of a warm fire while somewhere in a tree in an alternate universe your alter-ego would still be struggling to find the squirrels...
Bad picture of a tree.
Artists Wanted: If you think you could do better, and you are willing to draw for free, please let me know!
The top domains are fixed. There are several top domains, like ".edu" for educational sites such as universities and colleges, and ".com" for commercial sites. ".com" will be probably be the top domain of interest to you
The sub-domain is where your creativity comes in. You can choose your own sub-domain, subject to a few restrictions. The extra bit is a virtual piece of information that you can tack onto the domain name later to identify a single computer. For example, if you own the rights to "comedian-actor.com" it is a relatively simple task to find a technical wizard and ask him/her to perform a spell of binding on "funny" so that "funny" identifies a machine under your "comedian-actor.com" domain. That way, your brother, the straight man of the comedy duo, could be identified as "not-funny.comedian-actor.com"
I hope that you now have a better idea of what a domain name is. If not, don't worry. You don't have to understand how a microwave works in order to make use of one..
Well, such aliases already exist. They are called "domain names". A domain name is divided up into 3 sections. Let's look at the following [fictional] domain names to see how it works:
funny.comedian-actor.com
In this example, ".com" is the top domain, "comedian-actor" is the sub-domain and "funny" is an extra bit that was glued on later.
fish.catch-it-in.net
Again, ".net" is the top domain, "catch-it-in" is the sub-domain and "fish" is an extra bit of the domain name.
Think of these domains as a tree. You are standing at the foot of the tree, and you want to reach the house your friend built rather precariously on an outlying branch. He could supply you with a list of instructions like "Take the second branch on the left", "Climb past the knot-hole and take the third branch on the right" or "Watch out for the squirrels!" and eventually you would no doubt reach his house.
On the other hand, if each branch of the tree had a unique name, the instructions would be much simpler to follow. "Take the .com branch then the comedian-actor branch to get to my village. My house has a funny nameplate outside. You can't miss it." You would soon be sitting in front of a warm fire while somewhere in a tree in an alternate universe your alter-ego would still be struggling to find the squirrels...
Bad picture of a tree.
Artists Wanted: If you think you could do better, and you are willing to draw for free, please let me know!
The top domains are fixed. There are several top domains, like ".edu" for educational sites such as universities and colleges, and ".com" for commercial sites. ".com" will be probably be the top domain of interest to you
The sub-domain is where your creativity comes in. You can choose your own sub-domain, subject to a few restrictions. The extra bit is a virtual piece of information that you can tack onto the domain name later to identify a single computer. For example, if you own the rights to "comedian-actor.com" it is a relatively simple task to find a technical wizard and ask him/her to perform a spell of binding on "funny" so that "funny" identifies a machine under your "comedian-actor.com" domain. That way, your brother, the straight man of the comedy duo, could be identified as "not-funny.comedian-actor.com"
I hope that you now have a better idea of what a domain name is. If not, don't worry. You don't have to understand how a microwave works in order to make use of one..
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