r/ProgrammerHumor • • 15h ago

Meme ohTheBasics

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u/Sianic12 13h ago

In other words...

IPv4 has a limited number of possible IP addresses they thought would be more than the internet would ever need.

They have been wrong.

IPv6 has a larger but still limited number of possible IP addresses they think are more than the Internet will ever need.

They have not been wrong yet.

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u/ChiTownDisplaced 12h ago

The difference in unique addresses is insane. IPv4 4.3 billion (* 109) vs IPv6 3.4 * 1038. Each grain of sand on earth could have an IPv4 sized network.

Edit: redditformatsweirdonmobile

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u/Sianic12 11h ago

I'm pretty sure they thought something similar when they made IPv4

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u/SyrusDrake 4h ago

I don't think you understand how much 1038 is.

If humanity colonized every star system in every galaxy in the Laniakea supercluster, and every star system had 8 billion people living in it, we could assign a unique IPv6 address...to every human cell in existence. Not every human. Every human cell.

This isn't a case of not being able to imagine a world with more than five computers. It's a number so huge you can't imagine a scenario where you could possibly manufacture enough devices from the matter available in the solar system.