Uploaded September 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Translation is one approach to naming things online. Another is convention. Conventions establish defaults that associate semantics with numbers. A good example of this approach are well-known TCP port numbers. When your web browser wants to retrieve a web page over an insecure (unencrypted) connection, it tries to open a connection to TCP port 80 on the host. There’s no reason that 80 is 80—it’s just what we’ve agreed on.
Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).
Part of the internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.
Translation is one approach to naming things online. Another is convention. Conventions establish defaults that associate semantics with numbers. A good example of this approach are well-known TCP port numbers. When your web browser wants to retrieve a web page over an insecure (unencrypted) connection, it tries to open a connection to TCP port 80 on the host. There’s no reason that 80 is 80—it’s just what we’ve agreed on.
Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).
Part of the internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.
