mIRC

Description

Internet Relay Chat is a pre-web technology. The IRC protocol, created by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988, formed a real-time text messaging network organized into channels — rooms identified by a hash symbol and a name, open to anybody who connects to a server that hosts them. mIRC became the dominant Windows IRC client after Khaled Mardam-Bey released it in 1995, achieving tens of millions of users in the late 1990s and early 2000s when IRC was the primary platform for real-time group chat, file sharing communities, open-source project coordination, and online

IRC and mIRC have fallen off dramatically since the popularity of Discord, Slack and other modern chat platforms with richer interfaces and that don’t require users to understand server addresses and channel syntax. A dedicated user base still uses IRC for open source software projects, technical communities, and established channels which have been running continuously for decades. mIRC still receives updates from Mardam-Bey, and is actively maintained as a single-development project.

Channel Navigation

mIRC connects to IRC servers by address, lists channels for each connected server, and joins channels by name. The channel list for large servers has thousands of channels sorted by topic, language, and number of users. Several channels open at the same time in different windows or as tabs in the mIRC interface. Users connect to multiple servers at the same time, and each server’s channels are available from the same application window.

mIRC Scripting Language

mIRC has its own scripting language — mIRC Script — which is used to automate almost every aspect of the IRC client. Scripts respond to events: a message that matches a keyword will cause an automated response; a user joining a channel will cause a greeting; a file sharing request will cause an automatic queue management system. The scripting language is used for text processing, file operations, timers, and network connections, so mIRC is highly customizable for users who take the time to learn it. The scripting capability was the driving factor behind mIRC’s popularity in file sharing communities and IRC-based games, where scripts were used to automate complex multi-user coordination tasks.

DCC File Transfer

DCC (Direct Client-to-Client) is used to provide peer-to-peer file transfer between IRC users, without using the IRC server for the actual file data. DCC send initiates a direct connection between two users for the transfer of a file. DCC chat provides a direct encrypted text connection between two users separate from the public channel. The DCC system was historically used extensively in file sharing communities on IRC before the dominance of the use of the more modern and efficient systems of distribution via the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and BitTorrent.

Identd Server

mIRC has a built-in identd server, which responds to identity requests from IRC servers, and provides the username identification required by many IRC networks to connect. The identd server is a local service that automatically processes these requests without the user having to set up any separate service.

Notification and Highlights

mIRC scans the incoming text for specified keywords and username mentions, and triggers configurable visual and audio notifications when a highlight match is found. Notifications are used to alert when someone uses a keyword in a busy channel where messages are scrolling by rapidly and important messages may go unnoticed.

Logging

mIRC automatically logs channel conversations and private messages to text files, creating a permanent record of IRC sessions. Log files are saved on a per channel and per server basis with configurable filename formats including the date. Logging settings regulate the directory, retention period, and whether logging is active per channel or globally.

Customization and Themes

mIRC’s interface is customized with color schemes, font settings, and toolbar configurations. The switchbar displays open channels and query windows as clickable tabs or buttons. Popup menus for channel lists, user lists and text areas set with custom entries that run mIRC Script commands.

Aliases and Popups

Aliases are used to create shortcuts for commonly used IRC commands or scripted actions. A single short alias is expanded to a longer command sequence when typed in the input line. Popups are used to add custom entries to right-click menus throughout the interface, to associate them with specific commands or scripts.