MIRC
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The correct title of this article is mIRC. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
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| Developer: | mIRC Co. Ltd. (Khaled Mardam-Bey) |
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| Latest release: | 6.21 / November 23, 2006 |
| OS: | Microsoft Windows |
| Use: | IRC client |
| License: | Proprietary |
| Website: | mIRC Website |
mIRC is a shareware Internet Relay Chat client for Windows, created in 1995 and developed by Khaled Mardam-Bey. Although it serves admirably as a simple chat utility, its integrated scripting language makes it extensible and versatile.
mIRC is very popular, having been downloaded almost nine million times from CNET's download.com service as of March 2007[1]. Nielsen Net Rankings also ranked mIRC among the top 10 most popular Internet applications in 2003. Because of its popularity, some users mistakenly conflate the mIRC client with the IRC protocol, thinking they are connecting to a "mIRC server" or joining a "mIRC channel"[citation needed].
It is unknown if the "m" in mIRC stands for anything—Khaled's personal FAQ explains that "it quite possibly stands for 'moo', or perhaps even MU."[1]
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[edit] Main features
- Integrated event-based and command-based scripting language
- Ability to connect to multiple servers simultaneously
- CTCP support
- DCC file transfer and chat support
- Protection against malicious file downloads
- fserve support
- ANSI-style and mIRC-style text decoration support
- SSL and firewall support
- UTF-8 support (For full function, "Multibyte editbox" must be enabled)
[edit] mIRC scripting
With mIRC Scripting (also referred to as "remote") one can cause a client to process certain tasks in response to specific events.
mIRC scripting is not limited to IRC related events and commands. There is also support for COM objects, calling DLLs, sockets and dialogs (for GUIs), amongst other things. This allows the client to be used in a variety of ways beyond chatting, such as:
- IRC bot
- Media player (MP3, MIDI, WAV)
- IRC server
- Web HTML parser (often for retrieving search results or headlines)
- Game platform (these games are called mIRC games)
[edit] Slap! function
A famous feature associated with mIRC (even though it predates the client by some time) is the ability to "slap" another user by right-clicking the target's nickname. This results in the line of text "X slaps Y around a bit with a large trout" where X is the person performing the action and Y is the nickname of the selected target. The use of "a large trout" is thought to be a reference to Monty Python's sketch The Fish-Slapping Dance[citation needed]. The "slap" has no function beyond the message itself, which is merely an execution of the /action command in mIRC. Users can add their own actions using the /action command or remove the pre-existing slap action by editing mIRC's default script.
[edit] Easter Eggs
- Clicking Khaled's nose in the About dialog produces a squeaky sound. Clicking anywhere else will open the mIRC webpage.
- Typing
/xyzzywill return the message "Nothing happens". This is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. - Typing "Arnie" with the About dialog opened will change Khaled's image.
- Right clicking Khaled image in the About dialog will create a bouncing pixel above the mIRC word.
- Left clicking the mIRC logo in the About dialog will change it back to the older mIRC logo.
- Right clicking the About icon in the toolbar will create a smiley face inside it.
[edit] Criticism
- mIRC scripting allows troublemakers to dupe naive users into running malicious code merely by typing things in the chat window (for example, entering lines beginning with
//write $decode(). Since version 6.17 this is disabled by default, and various other commands considered dangerous can be locked in mIRC options. - mIRC-style text decorations and colors are not part of the IRC standard, and thus require special parsing and treatment by other IRC clients to avoid garbage characters infringing upon readability. In addition, the IRC color format is ambiguous and follows no common standard, which is a severe drawback for other coders trying to implement the system. [2].
- mIRC supports bold and underline text formatting, but lacks support for italic formatting.
- mIRC does not support native IPv6.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website
- mIRC Online Manual — documentation in single-page HTML format
- mirc.net
- mircscripts.com
- mircscripts.org
- mircv6loader — IPv6 support library for mIRC
