From the course: Computer Science Principles: The Internet

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The Internet Protocol and IP address

The Internet Protocol and IP address

From the course: Computer Science Principles: The Internet

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The Internet Protocol and IP address

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- When you send a letter or package, you need to provide an address. The address needs to be understood by everyone that comes into contact with it, to make sure that it's going to the right place, and that it's being delivered to the right person. When we address a letter, we use a country, state, city, street, and house number. With these, we are able to get the letter closer and closer, to the right person among millions of people. Everyone has a unique name and address. Well, unless you live with an identical twin with the same name. The same exists with addresses on the Internet. Instead of a street address, addresses on the Internet use numbers. The use of numbers as addresses is one of the core concepts of the Internet, and it is called the Internet Protocol, or IP. Each device on the Internet has an address called an IP address. With IPv4, a current standard, this is a sequence of four, three-digit numbers separated by a period. Each number can be a number from zero to 255…

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