Every time I approach a new topic in in technology, I try to relate it back to some other allegorical metaphor in the physical world. Its usually a great way to learn the basic concepts of an idea, even if the real thing and the metaphor don't fit quite right.
Some examples: when learning about electricity, I connected the basic ideas of it to that of water. For electricity we have voltages, for water we have pressure; electric currents - water flow rates, etc.
When I was first learning about DNS, I thought of using phone directories as a metaphor to how DNS works. It was alright for a while, and seemed like a pretty good fit, considering both systems were for matching names to numbers.
How quickly that metaphor fails though. DNS is like the phone directory compiled by a serial-murdering brain-rapist. If the phone book is like a charming old guitar, DNS is like a Moog hooked up to the soundbank from another galaxy.
ttttt
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