Let’s imagine a small village, and in this village lives a person named Soumya.

Soumya’s House Address = IP Address

Soumya lives in a house with a special number on it — House No. 25, Main Street. This number is unique, and no one else has it. That’s how people know where Soumya lives.

In internet terms, this house number is like an IP address — a special number that helps find a device (like a computer or website) on the internet.

“Soumya’s House” = Domain Name

But remembering “House No. 25, Main Street” can be hard, right?

So Soumya puts a nameplate outside that says “Soumya’s House”. It’s much easier for people to remember the name than the house number.

This nameplate is like a domain name — for example, instead of remembering a number like 142.250.190.4, you just remember www.google.com.

The Village Book = DNS

Now, let’s say a visitor wants to find Soumya’s house, but they only know the name — not the house number.

They go to the village book that lists all house names and addresses. They look up “Soumya’s House” and find out it’s House No. 25, Main Street.

That village book is like the DNS (Domain Name System) — it helps match names (like www.google.com) to numbers (like 142.250.190.4).

The Friendly Guide = Routing

Okay, now the visitor knows the house number — but how do they get there?

They ask a friendly guide who knows all the roads in the village. The guide says, “Take this street, then turn left, and you’ll reach House No. 25.”

This guide is like routing — it helps your data find the best way to travel from your device to the right address (IP).

What Are These Terms, Really?

Now that you've understood the story, here are the actual definitions:

What is an IP Address?

An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique string of numbers assigned to each device connected to the internet. It acts like a digital address that helps devices find and communicate with each other online.

Example: 192.168.1.1

What is DNS?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is like the internet's phonebook. It translates easy-to-remember domain names (like www.youtube.com) into IP addresses that computers use to find each other.

Without DNS, we would have to remember long IP numbers instead of names.

What is Routing?

Routing is the process of selecting the best path for data to travel across a network. Routers — the devices responsible for this — decide how data should move through the internet to reach its final destination.

Think of it like GPS for your data!

A Simple Story to Understand the Internet: IP Address, Domain Name, and Routing