Tip #3727 - Ping Pong Printer Friendly Version | E-Mail This Tip
Ping
Pong
Do you have any idea
what the term "ping" means in the world of
computers? If not, allow me to give you a brief definition. Basically,
ping is short for Packet InterNet Groper and it is a
utility that is most widely used to check for network errors. It's the
main utility that is used to verify whether or not a network data packet
can be sent to an address (usually an IP address) without any errors.
Now, let me try to
explain how a ping process works. First, a ping command is used to ping
an IP address and that request is then sent over the network to the computer
with that address. Once it's successfully received, the computer produces
what is called a "pong" response. The time
between the two is then calculated to come up with an average response
time. If the ping, for some reason, does not make it through to its destination,
the computer will then receive a timed out error.
So, if you've ever received
an error like that, you now know that it's coming from the ping utility.
The term ping is also used quite a bit in computer gaming. In this case,
it goes by either a high ping or a low ping and it basically has to do
with how fast of a connection a user has to the game server. For example,
if you play games online, you'll want to have a lower ping rate (around
50 is good). If you have too high of a ping speed, you may not be able
to play, because a lot of game servers only accept low pings. Well, hopefully
that helps you all in understanding this computer term a little more.
As you can see, it's all in the ping and the pong!
~ Erin
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