Robert Koberg <> writes:
>
> Michael Kay wrote:
>
> >>hmmm... isn't the internet a hierarchy? has that failed?
> >
> >
> > If the internet is a hierarchy, can you tell me how to find
> the root?
>
> A quick google turned up:
>
> http://www.support.psi.com/support/common/inet-serv/dns/hierarc.html
>
>
> "The Domain Name System is a distributed hierarchical system for
> resolving host names into IP addresses. The DNS has a root domain at
the
> top of the hierarchy and directly under are the top-level domains. The
> root of the tree has no name. All siblings of a domain must have
unique
> names. Children of a domain are called subdomains of the parent."
I'd note a couple of things: 1) DNS is only one part of what makes the
Internet the Internet (though arguably rather important for all the web
surfers who wouldn't know an IP address from a telephone number); 2) the
DNS root is more virtual than anything else, there's no requirement for
it being present at any given point in time. If it's a hierarchy it's
unlike any other hierarchy I've ever encountered.
