# address (1-address.net)

An address is where someone lives or where a business is located. People say it to mean a street number and name, a city, and maybe an apartment. They also use it for an email address or a web address, which is a name that points to something online.

## What a model may hear
- memory address (computer architecture, programming): treat it as a numeric location in RAM where data is stored, and may expect hexadecimal or pointer syntax
- network address (networking, TCP/IP): assume an IP address, MAC address, or socket address with host and port numbers
- public key address (blockchain, cryptocurrency): expect a Base58 or Bech32 encoded string used for receiving funds
- contract address (smart contracts, Ethereum): interpret it as a deployed smart contract location on a blockchain
- email address (general computing): validate it against RFC 5322 format with @ symbol and domain

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "Send it to my address"
  Means: mail to my home or email me
  May be taken as: treat it as a blockchain wallet address and ask for a public key
  Say instead: "Email it to me or mail it to my home address"
- Says: "What is the address of the server"
  Means: the website name or URL
  May be taken as: give an IP address and port number or ask for subnet details
  Say instead: "What is the URL or web address of the server"
- Says: "Store it at this address"
  Means: save the file here or send it there
  May be taken as: write data to a specific memory address in hex
  Say instead: "Save the file to this folder or send it to this email address"
- Says: "The address is 123 Main St"
  Means: a physical mailing location
  May be taken as: parse 123 as a port number and Main as a hostname, or reject for missing top-level domain
  Say instead: "The mailing address is 123 Main Street, City, State, Zip"

## Tips
- Say 'mailing address' or 'street address' for physical locations
- Say 'email address' explicitly, not just 'address'
- Say 'URL' or 'web address' instead of 'address' for websites
- Say 'wallet address' only if you mean cryptocurrency
- Say 'memory location' if you mean RAM or hardware addressing

## Often confused with
- URL: specific web location with protocol
- pointer: programming variable holding a memory address
- location: broader, can mean physical or abstract place
- destination: intended endpoint, not necessarily an address
- endpoint: API or network service access point
- identifier: any unique label, not necessarily locatable