High School Computers

Ideas and Resource Links

If you are trying to teach the concept of IP Address, ask the students to think of an enormous safe. The safe has 4 dials on it. Each dial has numbers 0 through 255. In order for them to reach another computer, they have to dial in all four numbers. How do they know what numbers to dial ? They don't, so their browser automatically first looks up the appropriate set of numbers for the www style name they type in, at the local domain name server, which is like a phone book. Then their computer puts out a request to talk to the computer at say,"208.166.82.49" You can go on from here to ask them to calculate the number of IP addresses out there. You can also go for bits and bytes, as this is the same as 32 switches in a row, each one flipped to a particular position to represent a particular address. You can discuss the notion that the next gen internet will have SIX dials, and how many devices that system will be able to access. "Mommy, what the IP address of my toothbrush? I want it to do three downs and ups followed by only one sideways....." Submitted by Douglas Keachie of North San Juan, CA, please credit. I've always wanted to Wiki.

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Actually, an IPv6 safe would have SIXTEEN dials. And that's a lot of addresses...  -- Adam Goode

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