Both systems let us connect to remote resources on an electronic network. Let's dissect a URL and see what each part of it does. If you are making an international phone call, you must be able to agree with the person on the other end of the line which language you will speak. In the same way, computers communicate using different languages over the same chunk of wire, and it's important for a computer accessing a remote resource to speak a language that the remote computer can understand. This is the full name of the computer that stores the resource to which the URL points.
Host names begin at the most specific and proceed to the more general level of networking.
You're no doubt familiar with the concept of nested directories from using your personal computer. This is the name of the resource the URL points to. It's important to understand that a URL requires every part of this structure to work properly. However, having to type all those characters all the time can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. We'll consider ways to shorten the reference in the next lesson.