Internet address syntax (and semantics, for that matter)

[chap flack]

I have a specific question to which a specific answer would be great (but a
general answer would be better, so I never need to ask again)....

I've been UNIXless and netless for about four years now... Back then, I never
dealt with Internet address formats, we just knew the routing to use for the
places we wanted to go.  Now here I am, four years later, in Michigan instead
of Minnesota, looking at a collection of adjacent node names I don't even
recognize, feeling rusty and sitting in my living room logged into a public-
access system 10 miles away (and therefore with no manuals).  I'm lost!!!

OK.  So the smart routers (I'm told sharkey has one) can interpret
Internet addresses and help me out.  I recently received snail mail from a
man I worked with 4 years ago, saying that his address is chenry at carleton.edu.
So as a test drive, I tried sending something to
cfctech!sharkey!chenry at carleton.edu.

Those of you who know how to do this probably don't need me to tell you that
didn't work.  Sharkey's daemon complained that there's no chenry on sharkey.

So what's the correct syntax?  A specific answer (i.e., how to get mail to 
chenry) would be nice; a general answer (how Internet addressing works) would
be very nice.  If it's a published standard that I can find in the Detroit
Public Lib (ANSI, IEEE, ...) or WSU (ISO, ...), just a reference will do...
If it's not on paper, but someone on the net has access to a formal document
describing it and can email that to me, that's good too.

Thanks for any help.
-chap ..uunet!edsews!rel!ttardis!jcf3703
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chap flack                         ... uunet ! edsews ! rel ! ttardis ! jcf3703

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