Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

network address
     
         1. The network portion of an {IP address}.  For a
        {class A} network, the network address is the first {byte} of
        the IP address.  For a {class B network}, the network address
        is the first two bytes of the IP address.  For a {class C
        network}, the network address is the first three bytes of the
        IP address.  In each case, the remainder is the {host
        address}.  In the {Internet}, assigned network addresses are
        globally unique.
     
        See also {subnet address}, {Internet Registry}.
     
        2. (Or "net address") An {electronic mail} address on {the
        network}.  In the 1980s this might have been a {bang path} but
        now (1997) it is nearly always a {domain address}.  Such an
        address is essential if one wants to be to be taken seriously
        by {hackers}; in particular, persons or organisations that
        claim to understand, work with, sell to, or recruit from among
        hackers but *don't* display net addresses are quietly presumed
        to be clueless poseurs and mentally {flush}ed.
     
        Hackers often put their net addresses on their business cards
        and wear them prominently in contexts where they expect to
        meet other hackers face-to-face (e.g. {science-fiction
        fandom}).  This is mostly functional, but is also a signal
        that one identifies with hackerdom (like lodge pins among
        Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans).  Net
        addresses are often used in e-mail text as a more concise
        substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to
        know each other quite well by network names without ever
        learning each others' real monikers.
     
        See also {sitename}, {domainist}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1997-05-10)