ABSTRACT
Dot-com was specifically intended as a term for a business site; however, in some cases it has become a general term for any Web site. The term com is the form that completes the last part for most commercial Web sites. It is the address, the “dot address,” that refers to the notation that expresses the four-byte (32-bit) IP address as a sequence of four decimal numbers separated by dots. For example, to learn the dot address (such as 205.245.172.72) for a given domain name, Windows users can go to their MS DOS prompt screen and enter: ping xxx.yyy where “xxx” is the second-level domain name, such as “whatis”, and “.yyy” is the top-level domain name, such as “.com”). The separation of the four numbers with dots makes the address easier to read. Of course, most of us remember an Internet location by its domain name rather than its numbered Internet address. However, we sometimes need the dot address when we configure a Web browser or activate an account with an Internet service provider.
