In a previous post, I explained that networking involves the sharing of resources between two or more parties. But that is only possible if the two parties can find each other first.

In other words, before you can go to the movies, you have to know where the movie theater is. To make it easy, the movie theater has an address that describes its location in your town.

Computer networking is the same way. Before you can share a file or any other resource with another party, your computer must have an address that describes its location on the network.

There are many systems (or protocols) for computer addressing, but the most popular one is called Internet Protocol, or simply “IP.” That’s right, as in “TCP/IP.”

Here’s why you need to understand IP addressing:

If you are going to set up a network that works, you need to make sure each computer has a valid IP address.

Not only that, but each IP address must be unique, that is, one-of-a-kind on that network.

Think of it this way: your house has an address, right? No other house on your street has the same address. If they did, how would the mailman be able to deliver your mail to you, instead of your neighbor?

Same with your computer — it must have a unique address on your network.

So here are some questions you need to answer:

1. What is a valid address?

2. How do you give each computer a valid address?
3. How can you be sure that each computer on the network has a unique address?

I’ll answer those questions (and much more) in later posts.