[W/K] :: Internet address

  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 the network 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.
  
  

  Internet address
       
           (IP address, TCP/IP address) The 32-bit host
          address defined by the Internet Protocol in STD 5, RFC
          791.  It is usually represented in dotted decimal notation.
       
          A hosts's Internet address is sometimes related to its
          Ethernet address.  The Internet address is usually expressed
          in dot notation, e.g. 128.121.4.5.  The address can be split
          into a network number (or network address) and a host
          number unique to each host on the network and sometimes also
          a subnet address.  The way the address is split depends on
          its "class", A, B or C as determined by the high address bits:
       
          Class A - high bit 0, 7-bit network number, 24-bit host
          number.  n1.a.a.a 0 <= n1 <= 127
       
          Class B - high 2 bits 10, 14-bit network number, 16-bit host
          number.  n1.n2.a.a 128 <= n1 <= 191
       
          Class C - high 3 bits 110, 21-bit network number, 8-bit host
          number.  n1.n2.n3.a 192 <= n1 <= 223
       
          The Internet address must be translated into an Ethernet
          address by either ARP or constant mapping.
       
          The term is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to a host's
          fully qualified domain name.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1994-12-06)
       
       

  internet address
       
           (Note lower case "i").  An IP address that
          uniquely identifies a node on an internet.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1995-04-12)