network address
<networking> 1. The network portion of an IP address. For a class A
network, the network address is the first byte of the IP address. For a class B
network, the network address is the first two bytes of the IP address. For a
class C network, the network address is the first three bytes of the IP address.
In each case, the remainder is the host address. In the Internet, assigned
network addresses are globally unique.
See also subnet address, Internet Registry.
2. (Or "net address") An electronic mail address on the network. In the 1980s
this might have been a bang path but now (1997) it is nearly always a domain
address. Such an address is essential if one wants to be to be taken seriously
by hackers; in particular, persons or organisations that claim to understand,
work with, sell to, or recruit from among hackers but *don't* display net
addresses are quietly presumed to be clueless poseurs and mentally flushed.
Hackers often put their net addresses on their business cards and wear them
prominently in contexts where they expect to meet other hackers face-to-face
(e.g. science-fiction fandom). This is mostly functional, but is also a signal
that one identifies with hackerdom (like lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed
T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans). Net addresses are often used in e-mail text
as a more concise substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to
know each other quite well by network names without ever learning each others'
real monikers.
See also sitename, domainist.
[Jargon File]
(1997-05-10)
Nearby terms:
Netware Input/Output Subsystem « NetWare Link State
Protocol « network « network address »
Network Addressable Unit » Network Address
Translation » Network Address Translator
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