E-Mail Addresses
Quick Reference
User Name |
Host Name |
Address Book
Every person who can receive electronic mail has to have an e-mail address.
This address uniquely identifies them among all of the millions of other
people on the Internet.
Like a real world address, an e-mail address has to convey two basic pieces
of information: who the mail is for, and where that person is. An e-mail
address will consist of the user's name, followed by an '@' (an 'at' sign),
followed by the name of the computer system they use. For example, my
address is 'chris@westnet.com' .
A 'user name' is how the computer knows you. Different systems will have
different ways of assigning names. As a WestNet user, you selected a
username when you applied for an account. This is how the WestNet computers
know who you are, and how to deliver your mail.
Host Name
The name of the computer is called it's host name. While this may just look
like a name, or a string of nonsense, it is actually a path describing how
to find the machine. The various parts of the address, separated by the
dots, perform many of the same functions as a postal address.
Let's look at my address.: chris@westnet.com We actually start at the right
side of the string. The last part, '.com', describes what type of system I
am on, a commercial system. Other types are:
- .edu: Educational Institutions
- .org: Non-profit Organizations
- .gov: US Government
- .net: Network Providers
Moving to the left we find the domain portion of the
address. This indicates the company, school, or organization that owns the
computer. While many addresses, including mine, end here, you may find an
address that has many more parts, indicating departments, divisions, or just
other machines.
If you find a friend with an address like
buddy@machine.group.division.company.com, how will you ever
remember it ? The same way you probably remember you friends real address:
your address book. Most e-mail programs have a function to remember
addresses. This will be covered in a later section.
Previous Page |
Next Page
Chapter Index |
Help Index
© 1996 WestNet Internet
Services of Westchester.