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An '''address''' is a name (in the general sense of an [[identifier]]) for either:

* a unit of storage, either [[main memory]] or [[secondary storage]]; or
* something in a [[communication network]].

==Storage==

For the former, the [[hardware]] reacts to references to a given address by using the unit of storage at that address.

For main memory, an address uniquely names the fundamental unit of memory - a [[byte]] in most contemporary machines (following the example of the [[IBM System/360]], or a [[word]] (typical, on older machines). Main memory cells are arranged in an [[array]], and the address is the index into that array.

Addresses for secondary storage can be more complicated; for [[disk]]s, disk addresses (particularly on older disks) include separate cylinder, surface and sector fields. For [[magnetic tape]] drives, records or blocks are usually numbered sequentially.

==Networks==

Networking also has addresses (which usually include some information about ''where'' in the network the named thing is, they do not just uniquely identify the entity). In some [[protocol suite]]s, [[interface]]s are given addresses, in others, it is [[host]]s which have them.

[[Category: Basics]]