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Comment by Retr0id | Hacker News Reader

Not at all to defend Meta but "a feature that allows software developers to test applications" is a dubious definition of localhost. I also can't come up with a better one.

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It's not a definition, but it is an accurate statement.

It's a true statement but I'm not sure it gives a good impression of what localhost actually is.

If the biggest issue you found in the article is the localhost gloss, Meta probably got off easy.

I never said that.

Here is the explicit definition of localhost.

The term "localhost" refers to the default entry in all modern operating system host files. By default modern operating systems provide a hosts file that provides domain name resolution without reliance upon the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol. By default these host files typically ship with one entry, a domain named "localhost" that points to IPv4 loopback interface 127.0.0.1.

Sure, but you lost the non technical audience by the end of the first sentence.

The only audience qualified to make technical decisions.

Then what are we talking about? If this is only about comfort of people who don't give a shit anyways then just relate it to money or cartoons or whatever and walk away. It just doesn't matter.

specially for this case, the localhost part is misleading.

what should have been the focus was "starting a shadow server on the use device, wide open for any application or webpage"

Yes I was totally confused as that's not what I understood by localhost

“A network interface which allows processes on the same internet host to communicate without the need for a network connection”

There's a lot of layperson-unfriendly words in there! Iterating on that:

"A feature that allows multiple programs on the same device to communicate without the need for an internet connection"

a pty fits that definition though

Some concepts just can't (or shouldn't) be broken down to the level of lay person friendly though. There are just some technical concepts that have a complexity floor that if you drop below you are no longer explaining the actual concept but a fantasy.

For a judge trying to rule on a technical case, a poor layperson analogy and lead to a confidently wrong legal conclusion that has serious negative consequences. Thats why court appointed neutral experts are important.

A way for computer programs to talk to each other on the same device as though they were running on different devices connected over a network.

I agree with you by the way, I just don’t think this is one of those cases.

Computer talky no pluggy

It is like having a pool room at home instead of playing at the bar. Facebook want to snoop around your pool room.

“A loopback network interface” or “A interface that refers to the same host”.

"on the device itself"

Localhost is “on the device itself”, but so is an installed App and files and user settings.

This is also missing a lot of what localhost means in this context (networking, violation of the usually way similar apps and websites work on an Android device, etc).

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