1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a forwarder executed by a hardware processor in a computer network, a packet that corresponds to an interest, wherein the interest includes a name that is location independent; in response to determining, with the processor, that the interest is destined for a component of a stack of communication modules that includes a plurality of components, sending the interest to the destined component based on the name for the interest without passing through one or more other components of the stack, wherein the stack does not require a respective communication module to communicate only with a layer above or below thereof; and in response to determining, with the processor, that the interest is not destined for any of the components of the stack, sending the interest to a network element based on the name for the interest, thereby facilitating directly addressing individual components of the stack.