I’ve swwn the word IP mentioned a lot, what is it?
An IP address (Internet Protocol) is the identifying “address” assigned to a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Information is transmitted using the destination IP addresses–think of it as your computer’s postal address on the Internet.
IP addresses are 32-bit addresses, and are written as 4 sets of numbers ranging from 0 to 255, separated by a period.
There’s a whole lot more I could say about IP and TCP/IP but think of it as a numeric address for your computer to identify it to the rest of the Internet.
I heartily recommend this site: http://www.whatis.com
They have a veritable encyclopedia on all sorts of computing terms. Enjoy!
Thanks Stephen and Rasa. The site was very helpful.
Not to confuse the issue, but be aware that IP has multiple meanings. On this board, computer talk is about as frequent as legal talk, so IP is equally likely to mean “Internet protocol” and “intellectual property”. Context will tell.