The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat [Paperback]

Alex Charalabidis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

ICQ and other new-fangled chat applications may get most of the press, but Internet Relay Chat (IRC) remains the Wild West of real-time online conversations. Populated by the most diverse collection of characters this side of the Mos Eisley cantina scene in Star Wars, IRC will keep you up late chatting with people all over the world. The environment can be intimidating to newcomers, though, so Alex Charalabidis has written The Book of IRC, a fine guide to the products, procedures, and customs you need to understand in order to participate in IRC.

The book is marvelously comprehensive, touching on aspects of IRC technology (such as IRC assistance for vision-impaired people and IRC clients for the Amiga computer) that have to do with only small parts of the community. He emphasizes things you'll want to do (selecting and connecting to a server, kicking out unwelcome users, and managing your own channel) and the tools and procedures you'll need to get them done. He's also big on commands (common and obscure), so if a task can be accomplished in IRC, you're likely to find out how in these pages. Though he doesn't really explain how to program your own bots, Charalabidis documents a few of the popular ones that already exist. --David Wall

Topics covered: Using and enjoying Internet Relay Chat (IRC), with emphasis on the software you need to get connected from a variety of platforms. Lots of space goes to IRC commands and their appropriate use, plus the ins and outs of IRC safety. There's coverage of more technical stuff too, including Client To Client Protocol (CTCP) and Direct Client Connection (DCC).

From Library Journal

In existence since 1988, Internet relay chat (IRC) is the wild west of Internet communications because it allows anyone, from anywhere, to talk about anything. While widely used, it is also very user-unfriendly so Charalabidis's guide is almost indispensable. He presents all the basics: clients, servers, channels, finding people and information, setting up servers, managing security, and dealing with bots.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 437 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1 edition (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886411298
• ISBN-13: 978-1886411296
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #438,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really the ultimate guide, February 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (Paperback)

This book is pretty big for its low prize. On 350 pages there is first a quick overview how Internet works, so its really good for a "newbie". Later on, the book goes more into the detail about clients simply explained, and later on how to setup your own IRC server, which you miss in most other IRC books. The Appendixes and tables round it up to THE book of IRC.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great IRC "User's Manual", December 10, 2000

By	Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (Paperback)

This book is written by an experienced IRC user and operator and I can't think of anyone better qualified to write this book. Additionally, his sense of humor makes this book enjoyable to read as you find out about all the features of IRC. This book is useful for anyone who spends time on IRC, from the "newbies" to veteran IRC "addicts" like me. I wish there had been a book like this around six years ago, when I logged on to my first IRC channel.

Among the subjects the authors covers include a brief summary of IRC and its history, IRC clients for UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh machines, how to connect to an IRC server, finding various channels and people on IRC, and also a good description about the dreaded "net splits" and lag you will eventually run into on IRC. I just wish the author had gone into more detail about ways to deal with server splits and lag. Maybe the next edition will cover that.

More and more users are logging on to IRC all the time (which probably explains why it seems there's always those "splits" I mentioned) and this book is an excellent guide to what you can do on IRC and what to watch out for.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, June 3, 2000

By	Subhi S Hashwa - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (Paperback)

Great book, I have met Alex on IRC a while back and found him to be one of the few people on irc who has the ability to explain things without the need to use too many technical terms, Now he finally managed to put it on paper. Its a great book for beginners and experienced users alike. Good stories about early days of irc, making it quiet amusing as well.