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tinkthank said:
This is me not understanding something, sorry, you are the only people I know who understand computers. So here goes:
Do I understand correctly that every "address" you can have in the "internet" is really just a mnemnotechnical shortcut to a numerical "URL", so that anything www.blahblahblah etc. will translate into a 16-digit number?
Is it also true that every single computer with a connection to the "internet" via a modem or whatever also has a unique URL number? (Or is that IP and IP is different?)
If the above is correct (maybe it is more or less digits?), then isnt the number of internet addresses /computer IPs that can be given pretty finite? I mean, in like 10 years or whatever, wont all of the numbers be gone?
Thanks for helping me understand this.
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As other have stated, the URL a translated into a number, which is actually 32 bits, but usually wirtten like 123.123.123.123. You can actually enter
http://80.161.86.108/ and get (in this case) my home page. You got the right
The translation is done via a DNS database, which is a mderately complicated system that you don't have to worry about :-) (Askl if you want to know anyway).
But every internet user does not have a permanent address. Many (the majority) either get one from a dynamic pool (this is common with *DSL) or share a single IP address via a firewall (common in corporate networks.). That is why we havn't quite run out yet --- I believe it will be another 10 years or so before we do at the current rate, though I don't know. You can google for it if you *really* want to know.