Same here.
I implemented some dynamic dns system. I still remember how to handcraft a RRUPDATE request.
After reading the RFC, every bit in dig output makes sense
It would, however, be nice if there was a tool (or, as jvns proposes, a +human option to dig) that provided output oriented to somebody who's just trying to -use- the thing rather than reading the RFC first.
(I'm very much a "read the RFC first by default" sort of person because that approach fits my brain, but I don't think everybody should have to do that for relatively simple day to day stuff)
I wrote one of the world's first dynamic DNS servers for our dialup modem customers in the early 90s, so when connected to our Livingston Portmasters with an assigned IP address you could be username.isp.com while online.
Later updated this so you could also be http://www.username.isp.com all the time just by dropping an index.html file in your ~username/site directory.
I learned both by spelunking BSD, reading man pages, and rapid prototyping in Perl. So I'm with tristor, it felt relatively straightforward.
// I don't say I wrote the first because I don't know. I am not aware of any other regional or national commercial dialup ISP in the U.S. that offered this before we did.