4 ms·

> We use the DNS because most humans are bad at keeping track of long numbers. I almost feel the need to challenge that these days. While it's absolutely true

> We use the DNS because most humans are bad at keeping track of long numbers. I almost feel the need to challenge that these days. While it's absolutely true as far as the original intention went, and is true to a limited amount today, I think the days of most people typing domain names into the location field of their browser is largely over. Google search is the modern DNS when we're talking about that purpose. Today, I think DNS is much more about the permanence of an address, not whether it's memorable.

jazzyjackson 7y ago
Agreed that it’s about changing what IP and address resolves to, 32 bit IPs don’t have to be harder to memorize than a phone number. In fact most IP addresses can be represented as a 10 digit decimal notation and last I checked chrome will resolve this “phone number” representation into the traditional quad-octet
- partialrecall 7y ago
  During most of the period in which memorizing phone numbers was common, most people weren't memorizing 10 digit numbers. Rather, local calls to your neighbors required you only remember 4 digits when you all shared the same three digit prefix. And if you didn't share a prefix but shared an area code, you only had to memorize 7 digits. For the calls most people were making most of the time, memorizing 4 was typical and 7 was occasional. This did begin to change before the rise of phone number storage tech, but it doubtlessly spurred the adoption of that tech.
- omni 7y ago
  > most IP addresses can be represented as a 10 digit decimal notation Can't all ipv4 addresses be represented this way, since it's equivalent to a 32 bit int?
  - jazzyjackson 7y ago
    You’re right, I can’t remember why I was thinking I ran into 11 digits...
abtinf 7y ago
I agree that the purpose has changed. DNS is identity. Almost every source of internet identity is either in DNS or is, at root, based on DNS. The only exceptions I can think of are PGP keys and blockchain, and they struggle with workable trust mechanisms. You could say registrars and CAs underpin DNS, but they primarily exist to support DNS.

jazzyjackson 7y ago

Agreed that it’s about changing what IP and address resolves to, 32 bit IPs don’t have to be harder to memorize than a phone number. In fact most IP addresses can be represented as a 10 digit decimal notation and last I checked chrome will resolve this “phone number” representation into the traditional quad-octet

partialrecall 7y ago
During most of the period in which memorizing phone numbers was common, most people weren't memorizing 10 digit numbers. Rather, local calls to your neighbors required you only remember 4 digits when you all shared the same three digit prefix. And if you didn't share a prefix but shared an area code, you only had to memorize 7 digits. For the calls most people were making most of the time, memorizing 4 was typical and 7 was occasional. This did begin to change before the rise of phone number storage tech, but it doubtlessly spurred the adoption of that tech.
omni 7y ago
> most IP addresses can be represented as a 10 digit decimal notation Can't all ipv4 addresses be represented this way, since it's equivalent to a 32 bit int?
- jazzyjackson 7y ago
  You’re right, I can’t remember why I was thinking I ran into 11 digits...

abtinf 7y ago

I agree that the purpose has changed. DNS is identity. Almost every source of internet identity is either in DNS or is, at root, based on DNS. The only exceptions I can think of are PGP keys and blockchain, and they struggle with workable trust mechanisms. You could say registrars and CAs underpin DNS, but they primarily exist to support DNS.