Books & Videos

IRC Hacks

100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

By Paul Mutton

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Release Date: July 2004

Pages: 432

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IRC (Internet Relay Chat) may very well turn out to be the world's most successful hack. In 1988, Jarkko Oikarinen wrote the original IRC program at the University of Oulu, Finland. As he says in his foreword, "IRC started as one summer trainee's programming exercise. A hack grew into a software development project that hundreds of people participated in, and then became a worldwide environment where tens of thousands of people now spend time with each other. I have found many of my friends through IRC and learnt a significant part of my present software engineering knowledge while using and working with IRC. That would not have been possible without learning from code examples and hacks from others". IRC has continued to grow in popularity since its inception. Millions of people from all over the world now use IRC to chat with friends, discuss projects and collaborate on research. With a simple, clearly defined protocol, IRC has become one of the most accessible chat environments, with clients written for a multitude of operating systems. And IRC is more than just a simple chat system it is a network of intercommunicating servers, allowing thousands of clients to connect from anywhere in the world using the IRC protocol. While IRC is easy to get into and many people are happy to use it without being aware of what's happening under the hood, there are those who hunger for more knowledge, and this book is for them. IRC Hacks is a collection of tips and tools that cover just about everything needed to become a true IRC master, featuring contributions from some of the most renowned IRC hackers, many of whom collaborated on IRC, grouping together to form the channel #irchacks on the freenode IRC network (irc.freenode.net). Like all of our Hacks books, there are many different ways to use IRC Hacks. You can read the book from cover to cover, but you might be better served by picking an interesting item from the table of contents and just diving in. If you're relatively new to IRC, you should considering starting with a few hacks from each progressive chapter. Chapter 1 starts you off by showing you how to connect to IRC, while Chapter 2 acquaints you with the everyday concepts you'll need to use IRC effectively. Chapter 3 is all about users and channels, and introduces the first pieces of code. Chapter 4 shows you how to make useful enhancements to IRC clients. Chapter 5 is where you will learn the basics about creating IRC bots, with Chapters 6-12 introducing more complex bots that can be used for logging, servicing communities, searching, announcing, networking, managing channels or simply for having fun. Chapter 13 delves into the IRC protocol in more detail, and Chapter 14 demonstrates some interesting alternative methods for connecting to IRC. Finally, Chapter 15 will move you on to new pastures by showing you how to set up your own IRC server. This book presents an opportunity to learn how IRC works and how to make best use of some of the features that have made it the most successful, most scalable, and most mature chat system on this planet. IRC Hacks delves deep into the possibilities.

Chapter 1 Connecting to IRC
1. Introduction: Hacks #1-4
2. IRC from Windows
3. IRC from Linux
4. IRC from Mac OS X
5. IRC with ChatZilla
Chapter 2 Using IRC
1. Introduction: Hacks #5-11
2. The IRC Model
3. Common Terms, Abbreviations, and Phrases
4. Common Acronyms and Initialisms
5. Register with NickServ
6. Register Your Channel with ChanServ
7. The QuakeNet L Channel Bot
8. Fix Channel Problems with CHANFIX
Chapter 3 Users and Channels
1. Introduction: Hacks #12-16
2. Find Relevant Channels and Servers
3. Guess the Time Zone of a User
4. Study Channel Statistics with pisg
5. Find Users in Channels
6. Filter Channel Lists
Chapter 4 Enhancing IRC Clients
1. Introduction: Hacks #17-30
2. Automatic Completion of Nicknames
3. Add Timestamps to mIRC Messages
4. Highlight Lines in mIRC
5. Automate mIRC with Scripting
6. Format Text
7. Colorize Text
8. Play Sounds
9. Enhance irssi with Perl
10. Connect to Multiple Servers
11. Secure Your IRC Connection with SSL
12. Tunnel Your IRC Connection with SSH
13. Automate Voice Management
14. Make IRC Talk
15. Add Your IRC Nickname to Your Webcam
Chapter 5 Writing IRC Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #31-39
2. IRC Over Telnet
3. A Simple Perl IRC Client
4. IRC with Perl and Net::IRC
5. A Simple Java IRC Client
6. IRC with Java and PircBot
7. A Simple Python IRC Client
8. IRC with Python and IRCLib
9. Extend the Python IRCLib
10. The Ethics of IRC Bots
Chapter 6 Logging Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #40-43
2. Keep Tabs on People
3. Log URLs People Mention
4. Blog from IRC
5. A Continuity Bot
Chapter 7 Community Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #44-50
2. Infer Social Networks from IRC
3. Run an Infobot
4. Use PPF for Gaming Clans
5. Write a Plug-in for PPF
6. Getting Friendly with FOAFBot
7. Interrogate Trust Networks with TrustBot
8. Pass Notes to Other Users
Chapter 8 Search and Query Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #51-57
2. Search the Web with Google
3. Use the Dictionary
4. Check the Weather
5. Don’t Get Lost in Translation
6. Convert Currency
7. Find Out When People Are on the Network
8. Search for Books on Amazon
Chapter 9 Fun Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #58-63
2. A DiceBot
3. An Egg Timer
4. A Trivia Bot
5. Perform Feats of Math
6. An Artificial Intelligence Bot
7. Create Comic Strips
Chapter 10 Announcement Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #64-67
2. Welcome Visitors Automagically
3. Announce Newsgroup Posts
4. Feed Syndicated RSS News
5. Watch Online Games with MatchEd
Chapter 11 Network Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #68-72
2. Link Channels on Multiple Networks
3. Get a Remote Shell
4. Tail Log Files
5. Bridge Two Infobots
6. A File-Sharing Bot
Chapter 12 Channel Management Bots
1. Introduction: Hacks #73-77
2. Protect the Channel Topic
3. Invite Users into Channels
4. Maintain Operator Status
5. Set Up an Eggdrop Bot
6. Manage Channels with an Eggdrop
Chapter 13 The IRC Protocol
1. Introduction: Hacks #78-85
2. Understanding the IRC Protocol
3. Text Over Multiple Lines
4. Fake an Ident Response
5. Strip Formatting from Messages
6. Remove Color from Messages
7. Encrypt Messages
8. Timestamp with the TS Protocol
9. Understanding CTCP Messages
Chapter 14 Other Ways to Connect to IRC
1. Introduction: Hacks #86-94
2. Hypertext Links to IRC Channels
3. IRC from Your Mobile Phone
4. Enemies of Mobile IRC
5. IRC from a Pocket PC
6. Access IRC with Java Applets
7. Use IRC from a Web Page Without Java
8. Use IRC Within screen
9. Set Up an IRC Proxy
10. Use irssi and Its Proxy
Chapter 15 Servers and Services
1. Introduction: Hacks #95-100
2. Set Up Your Own IRC Server for Unix/Linux
3. Install Services
4. Set Up Your Own beware ircd Server
5. Link Two IRC Servers Together
6. Use MSN/ICQ/Jabber from IRC
7. Combine BitlBee and CtrlProxy

Colophon

Books & Videos

IRC Hacks

100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

Read on O'Reilly Online Learning with a 10-day trial

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Connecting to IRC

Introduction: Hacks #1-4

IRC from Windows

IRC from Linux

IRC from Mac OS X

IRC with ChatZilla

Chapter 2 Using IRC

Introduction: Hacks #5-11

The IRC Model

Common Terms, Abbreviations, and Phrases

Common Acronyms and Initialisms

Register with NickServ

Register Your Channel with ChanServ

The QuakeNet L Channel Bot

Fix Channel Problems with CHANFIX

Chapter 3 Users and Channels

Introduction: Hacks #12-16

Find Relevant Channels and Servers

Guess the Time Zone of a User

Study Channel Statistics with pisg

Find Users in Channels

Filter Channel Lists

Chapter 4 Enhancing IRC Clients

Introduction: Hacks #17-30

Automatic Completion of Nicknames

Add Timestamps to mIRC Messages

Highlight Lines in mIRC

Automate mIRC with Scripting

Format Text

Colorize Text

Play Sounds

Enhance irssi with Perl

Connect to Multiple Servers

Secure Your IRC Connection with SSL

Tunnel Your IRC Connection with SSH

Automate Voice Management

Make IRC Talk

Add Your IRC Nickname to Your Webcam

Chapter 5 Writing IRC Bots

Introduction: Hacks #31-39

IRC Over Telnet

A Simple Perl IRC Client

IRC with Perl and Net::IRC

A Simple Java IRC Client

IRC with Java and PircBot

A Simple Python IRC Client

IRC with Python and IRCLib

Extend the Python IRCLib

The Ethics of IRC Bots

Chapter 6 Logging Bots

Introduction: Hacks #40-43

Keep Tabs on People

Log URLs People Mention

Blog from IRC

A Continuity Bot

Chapter 7 Community Bots

Introduction: Hacks #44-50

Infer Social Networks from IRC

Run an Infobot

Use PPF for Gaming Clans

Write a Plug-in for PPF

Getting Friendly with FOAFBot

Interrogate Trust Networks with TrustBot

Pass Notes to Other Users

Chapter 8 Search and Query Bots

Introduction: Hacks #51-57

Search the Web with Google

Use the Dictionary

Check the Weather

Don’t Get Lost in Translation

Convert Currency

Find Out When People Are on the Network

Search for Books on Amazon

Chapter 9 Fun Bots

Introduction: Hacks #58-63