For those who are still confused, ping works with 32 bit unsigned integers. While there certainly are more uses, it's a much more convenient method for storing IP address in a database as it's easier to sort and index than 4 numbers separated by 4 periods
http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/IP2Integer.jsp?ipAddress=1.1.1.1

https://lemmy.ca/comment/17639579