Customer Reviews

IRC Hacks

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

'IRC Hacks' is not a more recent version of Alex Charalabidis's 'The Book of IRC.' Published by No Starch Press in 2000, 'The Book of IRC' focuses on more introductory material, and thoroughly covers the issues facing most IRC users. Unlike the older No Starch book, 'IRC Hacks' devotes over 200 pages to bot development. In other words, the 'IRC Hacks' authors concentrate on more advanced ways to interact with IRC servers. If this is your primary interest, you will enjoy 'IRC Hacks.'

Since I am not interested in bot development, 'IRC Hacks' wasn't as useful to me as I had hoped. I enjoyed on chapters discussing the IRC protocol (ch. 13) and setting up an IRC server (ch. 15). Hacks about NickServ (#8) and ChanServ (#9) were interesting, and I may try the CtrlProxy hack (#93) to facilitate remote IRC access.

'IRC Hacks' is fairly well written, although the editor should have ensured that terms were explained when first mentioned. For example, CTCP appears on pages 10 and 48, with no expansion of the acronym or reference to hack #85 (which explains CTCP). This is often a problem with books by teams of contributors. I would have enjoyed more coverage of 'operational issues,' like problems associated with running an IRC server. IRC networks have been targets of denial of service attacks and other adversarial activity for years, and the means by which IRC operators defend themselves would make good reading.

If you need a book focused on bot development, give 'IRC Hacks' a try. If you're more interested in IRC as a user, or even as an operator, ask Alex Charalabidis to write a second edition of 'The Book of IRC.'

Four years before the Web burst onto the scene with Mosaic, there was IRC. At first, IRC was mostly for bulletin board users. But as the Web took off, it also greatly expanded the pool of users and the extent of the Internet's physical reach. Now Mutton shows how today's IRC has so much more than that 1988 version. Being able to format messages, or colour them. Hey, you can even send and get sounds, in various common sound formats like wav files.

Numerous of his hacks revolve around managing an IRC channel. Problems of success, really. As IRC usage soared, what were once small communities of shared interests and values now often have to contend with others with different values. Channel operators may want to check out what Mutton offers.

Perhaps the most intriguing hack concerns finding social networks from many channels. Neat possibilities. Social networks are quite hot these days, though no one has yet found a viable business model centred on them.

IRC Hacks
100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
By Paul Mutton
First Edition July 2004
Series: Hacks
ISBN: 0-596-00687-X
432 pages, $24.95

I found this book to be fairly interesting and somewhat useful. Being quite familiar with IRC already, some of the introductory material was information that I already knew, but I did learn a few things about the more technical aspects of the IRC protocol and IRC servers/networks. Much of this book has to do with writing and using IRC channel "bots", which I think most casual IRC users would not be all that interested in.

The first four chapters introduce what IRC is, and how to connect to an IRC network and begin chatting with others. Various IRC client applications are described, including the most popular ones for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Other topics here include how to register your nickname, configuring your client, how to join servers/channels, and some nice customizations to add functionality and enjoyment to your use of IRC. I would think that these first chapters would be very useful to a newcomer to IRC, and allow them to get up and running quickly.

Chapter 5 introduces the concepts of "bots", and how to write your own bots in various languages, including Perl, Python, and Java. Some of it is fairly technical, and may appeal mostly to programmers and more serious IRC "hackers". Also mentioned is the idea of bot "ethics" and the policies that many IRC networks have regarding their use.

The next several chapters (6 - 12) provide numerous ideas and examples of making and using your own bots. IRC bots can perform many functions, some of which can be very useful, and others that have primarily an entertainment value. Much of the content of these chapters is actual code examples for many different types of bots, including Logging, Social, Search & Query, Announcement, Network and Channel Management, and Fun bots.

Chapters 13 - 15 go a little further into the technical side of how the IRC protocol works, encryption, web access to IRC, and even how to run your own IRC server. Many readers will find these subjects more complex than they care to get involved in.

Overall, I think this book is best suited to IRC users who are somewhat more than beginners, and are fairly technically oriented. I was surprised by the large amount of bot programming examples, which actually make up the majority of the book. I am not sure there will be that many users who really want to code their own bot. The first few chapters are helpful for IRC beginners, although there are probably better books for that purpose. I did get some ideas for modifying an existing bot, which I presently use occasionally in our LUG's IRC channel for entertainment (trivia contests). All in all, this title is best suited for more experienced users who may enjoy programming and "hacking" around with IRC bots.

Like all of the O'Reilly Hack books, this one contains 100 quick and dirty hints, tips and suggestions you might try on the IRC network. Although I consider myself an expert in some of the areas in which they have done their Hacks books, I have never failed to find a few things that fit exactly with something that I needed to do. In fact, I find that I need to go re-read the books once in a while just to see what new ideas I can find.

This particular book is interesting in that it is suitable for both the beginning and sophisticated user. It starts with getting an IRC client, using it, modifying it - in general getting the most out of it. Then it goes on to writing IRC bots using Perl, Java and Python along with canned libraries that simplify the writing of autonomous agents.

I was first introduced to IRC back in 1997, with a co-worker who spent a lot of his time typing away at a text-based IRC client. He told me later he had some very good friends on IRC, one of which my co-worker never met in person until this friend came to my co-worker's wedding. I ventured into some IRC channels myself, but always felt a little "behind the curve" in terms of understanding what was going on beyond the basics of just participating in a discussion.

Many who are new to IRC may feel the same way, and often those accustomed to the medium are less than accomodating of newbies. Fortunately O'Reilly's IRC Hacks comes to the rescue. O'Reilly uses the term "hacks" here in the positive sense of a clever way to use a particular technology, or an elegant way to solve a certain problem.

The first couple of chapters constitute an introduction to IRC. Various IRC clients for Windows, Linux, and Max OS X are covered, along with ways to enhance these clients. That might be enough for many users of IRC, but to be true to its title, the book proceeds to describe several frameworks you can use to write your own IRC bots in Java, Perl, and Python. No less than 7 chapters follow outlining a wide variety of different bots that can be used to enhance your IRC experience.

The remaining chapters give an in-depth look at the IRC protocol, describe ways in which you can connect to IRC via "other" means (such as from a mobile phone), and also provide coverage on setting up your own IRC server.

Overall IRC Hacks is very informational, and a good introduction to IRC. Perhaps one of its greatest strengths is the large number of "starting points" it provides to allow you to do just about anything with IRC. One complaint I have about the book is that in the chapters offering samples of bots you can write, the vast majority of them are written in Java. I would like to have seen more Perl in the mix. It's there to some extent in the beginning chapters, but Java examples dominate the latter part of the book.

I wish I had this book 10 years ago. It covers everything from different IRC clients to how IRC network actually works. There are a ton of sample bots in different languages, along with explanations of how and why they work. A great resource if you want to write your own. Being 2011, this book is dated but it's still a great source of information. The only thing it's missing is a short section on shell accounts.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is an overlooked means of communication in this era of instant messaging, texting on cell phones, networking sites and the like. Yet IRC remains a great source for on-the-spot and authoritative technical knowledge and help; leisure time socializing and just observing how many nutty people there are online. (Some of the poltical, religious and other IRC channels are absolutely hilarious to observe.)

Relatively few of the tips and hacks in this book will be of use to the ordinary IRC user. Most presume a modest proficiency in programming Java or Perl and a more than modest understanding of how IRC works. Still, even though the book will not be of great use to most IRC users, it is still worth a read if for no other reason than to expand your own knowledge of IRC and what can be done with it.

Jerry

This book opens up a whole new dimension of functionality for instant messaging. There are about fifty recipes dedicated specifically to helping you get automated access to information through IRC. Most of the examples are in Java, but there is some Perl and Python as well.

As Hacks books go this is a little looser than the others. I would have liked less time spent on the user interface twiddling, and I'm not sure what the artificial intelligence hack was about. But overall the book is great.

For anyone who loves instant messaging and wants to allow access to their applications through IM, this is the book. If you are a hardcore IRC user you will also want to have a look at this book.

As a self-confessed IRC addict, I eagerly awaited the release of this book, and I was not disappointed. While there are text files all over the 'Net that explain how to do various things with IRC (scripts and so forth), this book like the other "Hacks" books goes a little bit deeper. While the first two chapters deal with "introductory" items like how to connect from various operating systems, common terms and registering with NickServ (a widely available IRC service), the subsequent chapters get more into specialized topics, like searching through various networks to find a specific channel, or enhancing an IRC client. And yes, there are lots of hacks about writing bots, whether it's to protect a channel from unauthorized takeovers, or logging IRC activities, for searching or querying, even trivia and announcement bots.

This is a book ideally suited to IRC channel ops and admins and offers a lot of ways to make being on IRC much more fun and (in some cases) safer. There's definitely enough here to keep an IRC user and/or op/admin busy for hours and hours.

I have just read an article on slashdot on how the author has "analysed" IRC networks and concluded 99.9% of the traffic from the top 60 channels is illegal. What I wonder is, the top 60 channels all belong to warez groups and have nothing to do with the countless legit constructive channels around. Its like generalizing the internet to one particular field like pornography or illegal file-sharing.

Overall, I think this author is unqualified to write without bias and wouldn't recommend his work to others. Sincerity begets appreciation and this author deserves none.