ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Internet traffic engineering

Okay kiddo, let's talk about something called internet traffic engineering. You know how when you are on a road trip and there are lots of different routes you can take to get to your destination? Well, the internet is kind of like a giant road map with lots of different routes to get from one place to another.

Internet traffic engineering is a fancy way of saying that people who run the internet (like internet service providers or big companies) can choose which routes to take for internet traffic to get from one place to another. They do this so that the internet runs smoothly and efficiently, kind of like how a traffic cop directs cars on the road.

Now, sometimes one route may have more traffic than another, just like how one road might have more cars than another. In those cases, people who run the internet can use a technique called traffic shaping to make sure that the internet traffic is distributed evenly across different routes. This helps to prevent traffic congestion or slow down in certain areas of the internet.

So, just like how a traffic cop helps to make sure cars get where they need to go, people who work with internet traffic engineering help to make sure that internet traffic gets to where it needs to go as quickly and efficiently as possible. Pretty neat, huh?