messaging (Usually "e-mail address", rarely "e-dress",
"e-ddress") The string used to specify the source or
The
RFC 822 standard is probably the most widely used on the
In the example above, "john" is the
local part which is the
name of a
mailbox on the destination computer. If the
sender and recipient use the same computer, or the same
LAN,
for electronic mail then the local part is usually all that is
required.
If they use different computers, e.g. they work at different
the "host part", e.g. "sales.acme.com" must be appended after
the
hostname part, e.g. "sales". The destination computer
named by the host part is often a
server of some kind rather
is stored on the server and read later via
client mail
software running on the user's computer.
Large organisations, such as universities will often set up a
global
alias directory which maps a simple user name such as
"jsmith" to an address which contains more information such as
knowledge of where the message will be delivered from the
sender, making it much easier to redirect mail if a user
leaves or moves to a different computer for example.
(1996-10-22)