it's "universal resource locator"

the network address is either DNS or IP address, and it comes between the protocol:// and the path /path/to/something.jpg it's an extension of the UNIX path syntax and originated in unix with stuff like gopher and ssh and ftp - http protocol came later.

then you have parameters, which come afterwards ?like=this&like=that

then there is HTTP headers, which are a list of key/values used to set protocol modes

URI means Universal Resource Identifier and doesn't necessarily have a network address as the second parameter. they can be parsed the same way as they also follow the rule [a-zA-Z0-9\-.]+ and can include parameters (this is how NWC connection strings are structured).

technically, a URL is a type of URI, that is essentially a (networked) filesystem and parameter syntax.

also, i want MOAR TLDs. wen .nostr