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
   {network, the} 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.