Paul Mockapetris, along with the late Jon Postel, invented the Internet Domain Name System, introducing this document (RFC 882) in 1983:
“Domain Names – Concepts and Facilities.”
This RFC (request for comments) document, introduced domain style names, their use for ARPA Internet mail and host address support, and the protocols and servers used to implement domain name facilities.
Mockapetris emphasized the “need for domain names,” as a means of organizing the chaos related to the ARPA network’s expansion, and issues related to electronic mail. Technical specifications followed in the RFC 883 document.
This introductory paper described domain names as “trees”:
“This tree structure is intended to parallel the administrative organization and delegation of authority. Potentially, each node or leaf on the tree can create new subdomains ad infinitum.”
Until the introduction of new gTLDs in 2012 and 2013, the following statement seemed to be of little relevance, lost in a sea of obsessive commitment to the original TLDs:
In this example, the root domain has three immediate subdomains: COLORS, FLAVORS, and TRUTH.
The FLAVORS domain has one immediate subdomain named NATURAL.FLAVORS. All of the leaves are also domains.
This domain tree has the names ” “(the root), COLORS, RED.COLORS, BLUE.COLORS, GREEN.COLORS, FLAVORS, NATURAL.FLAVORS, CHOCOLATE.NATURAL.FLAVORS, VANILLA.NATURAL.FLAVORS, STRAWBERRY.NATURAL.FLAVORS, and TRUTH.
If we wished to add a new domain of ARTIFICIAL under FLAVORS, FLAVORS would typically be the administrative entity that would decide; if we wished to create CHIP and MOCHA names under CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE.NATURAL.FLAVORS would typically be the appropriate administrative entity.
This prophetic domain name structure makes absolutely perfect sense today, although not everyone in the domain industry is willing to see it. 😉
That being said, we’d like to wish a very happy 32nd birthday to the first .com domain ever registered, Symbolics.com.
