how does tinyurl work?

[darth vader]

http://tinyurl.com/

you type in a massive URL - it returns a small URL, which is a link to your original one. They state on the site that the new link never dies. So how does the site work - is it a big repository of stored URL requests, or is there some mathematical jiggery pokery going on?

[darth vader]

interestingly when i submitted the question and the bank threw up a list of "your question may have already been answered (but probably hasn't been because our search engine was written by hamsters out of it on cocaine)" contenders, i found this one, which is a contender for "bizarre link to another question" IMHO

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/How-it-Works/Qu estion224.html

Or maybe i can't see the connection between tinyurl and planet slingshotting?

[papa_face]

It simply stores the link you put in into a database. Then it provides you with a random small code that you put onto the end of tinyurl.com. When you enter that url into the address bar, it checks the database for that code, and then for the address you entered at step one and loads the address in your browser. It is very very very simple but effective.

[mibn2cweus]

Or try this :

Roll your own

[papa_face]

tinyurl and that link you provided do not do the same thing.

[darth vader]

thanks papa_face you confirmed what i thought. not sure what you're trying to prove, mibn2cweus

[mibn2cweus]

I pleed ignorance of what you at looking for but:

I pasted a url here where it says "Or try this :" and used the term "proof" to rename it.

I pasted the "proof" link it created for me in an e-mail and sent it to another e-mail address.

I then clicked on the "proof" link I received at this other address and it linked to the original web page from which I originally copied the url.

Sorry if this has nothing to do with your question or has no bearing on your thread. Feal free to inform me of the error in my understanding.

Blame it on the Moon!