Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
sociated with a central machine for the computer sciences depart
ment at the University of Texas at Austin, while grinnell.edu refers
to a central academic computing machine at Grinnell College. In
fact, the names form a hierarchical structure: .edu indicates that
these are educational institutions—grinnell.edu and utexas.edu are
main subjects within the .edu category. cs.grinnell.edu and
math.grinnell.edu are two subcategories under the Grinnell College
heading, used for the computer science and mathematics areas.
More generally, the suffix of a domain name (such as .edu) is
called a
top-level domain
(TLD), and these are coordinated through
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN). Currently, 13 names are used within the United States for
different types of organizations. A full list of these TLDs is shown
in Table 11.1.
Beyond these suffixes used in the United States, other countries
typically are assigned a suffix for their own use, and each country
determines how domain names are assigned within its jurisdiction.
For example, the suffix .uk is used for domain names within the
United Kingdom, while .gr is used for Greece, .tv for the country of
Tuvalu, and .cn for the People's Republic of China.
Table 11.1 Top-Level Domain Names for the United States
Abbreviation
Use or Purpose
.aero
air transport industry
.biz
businesses
.com
commercial
.coop
cooperatives
.edu
fouryear educational institutions
.gov
U.S. government
.info
general use
.mil
U.S. military
.museum
museums
.name
individual people
.net
general use
.org
notforprofit organizations
.pro
professionals (accountants, lawyers, physicians)
