What is the difference between a hostname and an IP address?

 A human being can be identified differently: name on a birth certificate and Aadhaar card number. Similarly, an Internet host (e,g., any device that is connected to the Internet, e.g., laptop, mobile phone etc.) can be identified using hostname or IP address. Within a given context, one identification may be more appropriate than another. Host names are mnemonic, and therefore, we can remember them easily. But it has some disadvantages: (i) From the hostname, we can not accurately locate the host on the Internet (ii) Since a hostname consists of variable length alphanumeric characters, they would be difficult to process by routers.

Example of hostname: http://www.quora1.com

and the IP address is 127.7.106.83. An IP address is hierarchical. As we scan an IP address from left to right, we obtain more and more specific information about where the host is located in the Internet. It is analogous to a postal address, where we get specific information about where the address is located by scanning a postal address from bottom to top. Due to this, it is better to identify a host by IP address.