Classful Addressing

Classful addressing was an early method for dividing the Internet’s IP address space into fixed categories or classes (A, B, C, D, and E). Each class designated a specific size for networks and hosts within them, based on the leading bits of the IP address. This simplified routing but lacked flexibility, often wasting address space. It has largely been replaced by Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), which allows for more efficient and adaptable IP address allocation.