“What happens when you type Google.com into your browser and press enter?”
Report a link problem
Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderLove it! One of my favourite bad interview questions. I got asked this in an interview ~5 years ago. My response was to look shocked... Pause. Then ask: "What do you mean? What detail do you need? DNS? SYN / ACK? HTTP?" At the point I started talking about syn/acks they just cut me off and moved on to the next question. Same company (different person) started the phone screen with 'oh so your CV says you know linux, what's…
I hate this interview question. This question however would be a great intro to CS/CMPE in university, "What happens when you type google.com into your browser and press enter....well you'll be able to answer `most` of that by the end of your PHD Dissertation."
Hah, a fun write up.
This is amazing!! This goes into every depth of what happens from the physical pushing of the keys on the keyboard to the page rendering. For someone who constantly wants to understand how things work, this page will be my reading for the next week. >The "g" key is pressed The following sections explain the physical keyboard actions and the OS interrupts. When you press the key "g" the browser receives the event and the auto-complete functions kick in. Depending…
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 679
- Total comments
- 172
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking