Each computer connected to the Internet has a unique address called an IP address (Internet Protocol address).
Most IP addresses use four bytes (32 bits) grouped in four 8-bit segments, separated by a full stop (period). For example, the IP address for Microsoft is 205.188.200.58.
A domain name is the address of a specific computer on the
Internet. A domain name consists of a number of separate parts. Each part is separated by a full stop. For example, the domain name ‘www.google.com.au’
• ‘www’ stands for World Wide Web
• ‘google’ is the name of the specific computer
• ‘com’ is the organisational domain
• ‘au’ is the geographical domain.
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator, pronounced ‘you-are-el’) is the address of a file or resource on the Web.
There are three parts to a URL:
• Protocol—indicates access to a particular resource on the Web. E.g., http://. It allows access to web pages based on hypertext.
• Domain name—address of the specific computer where the resource is located
• File path—full path to the file to be retrieved. It may be a simple file name or a directory path.