Internet address
n. 1. [techspeak] An absolute network address of
the form foo@bar.baz, where foo is a user name, bar is a
sitename, and baz is a `domain' name, possibly including
periods itself. Contrast with
bang path; see also {network,
the} and
network address. All Internet machines and most UUCP
sites can now resolve these addresses, thanks to a large amount of
behind-the-scenes magic and PD software written since 1980 or so.
See also
bang path,
domainist. 2. More loosely, any
network address reachable through Internet; this includes {bang
path} addresses and some internal corporate and government
networks.
Reading Internet addresses is something of an art. Here are the
four most important top-level functional Internet domains followed
by a selection of geographical domains
com
commercial organizations
edu
educational institutions
gov
U.S. government civilian sites
mil
U.S. military sites
Note that most of the sites in the com and edu domains are in
the U.S. or Canada.
us
sites in the U.S. outside the functional domains
su
sites in the ex-Soviet Union (see
kremvax).
uk
sites in the United Kingdom
Within the us domain, there are subdomains for the fifty
states, each generally with a name identical to the state's postal
abbreviation. Within the uk domain, there is an ac subdomain for
academic sites and a co domain for commercial ones. Other
top-level domains may be divided up in similar ways.
