3 ms·
I'd compare domain names and IP addresses to street addresses and GPS coordinates. We could just drop all street addresses and numbers and just use GPS coordina
by Hamuko 4y ago
I'd compare domain names and IP addresses to street addresses and GPS coordinates. We could just drop all street addresses and numbers and just use GPS coordinates, but that'd be a massive pain in the butt to use. So we'll just keep to simple, human-readable text instead.
- OJFord 4y agoBut there's not really a mapping between them. Combined with GP's suggestion that it isn't really necessary to understand IP addresses (GPS coordinates) it works well though - you have some address, you follow signposts starting from the bottom to the broader area, culminating in road name signs and a number on the door. (i.e. 'the town is this way' road sign is like 'authority for ycombinator.com is blah')
- layer8 4y agoThe important thing to understand is that the domain name system provides an authoritative source of information linked to the domain (DNS entries). One type of such information is IP addresses, but that is not really relevant in this context. I haven’t looked at the AT protocol, but in principle a domain doesn’t even need to have an IP address in order to provide information about handles and fediverse identities (only the DNS server needs an IP).
- OJFord 4y agoI'm just talking from a pedagogical point of view, the current phonebook analogy isn't meant for us anyway.