A human-readable label assigned to a device connected to a computer network, used to identify and locate the device. Part of a computer's network identity.
Modern English compound from 'host' (from Old English 'host', meaning army/multitude, later hospitality provider) + 'name'. In computing, 'host' refers to any device that provides services to other devices on a network, coined in the 1960s.
The concept of hostname reflects the internet's metaphorical structure as a vast hospitality network where computers 'host' each other. Before DNS was invented in 1983, network administrators had to manually maintain text files listing every hostname and its corresponding number - imagine updating a phone book for millions of computers!
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