mIRC

mIRC

Screenshot of a customized mIRC 7.19 running on Windows 7, displaying a channel chat (#Wikipedia-en) on the freenode IRC network.
Developer(s)	mIRC Co. Ltd. (Khaled Mardam-Bey)
Initial release	February 28, 1995; 16 years ago (1995-02-28)
Stable release	7.22  (October 14, 2011; 37 days ago (2011-10-14)[1]) [+/−]
Preview release	[+/−]
Development status	Active
Written in	C/C++ (originally Borland C++)[2]
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Platform	x86
Size	2.68 MB
Type	IRC client
License	Proprietary, Shareware
Website	www.mirc.com

mIRC is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client for Microsoft Windows, created in 1995 and developed by Khaled Mardam-Bey. Although it is a fully functional chat utility, its integrated scripting language makes it extensible and versatile.

mIRC has been downloaded over 30 million times from CNET's Download.com service.^[3] Nielsen/NetRatings also ranked mIRC among the top ten most popular Internet applications in 2003.^[4]

It is unknown if the "m" in mIRC stands for anything (the author's personal FAQ explains that "it quite possibly stands for 'moo', or perhaps even MU").^[2]

History

Khaled Mardam-Bey decided to create mIRC because he found the first IRC clients for Windows lacked some basic IRC features. He then continued developing it due to the challenge and the fact that people appreciated his work. The subsequent popularity allowed him to make a living out of mIRC.^[5] mIRC is shareware and costs $20 to register after the 30-day evaluation period.^[6]

5.91 is the final version to support 16-bit Windows,^[7] whilst 6.35 is the last to support Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, and ME. The current version supports Windows 2000 and later.^[8]

Main features

mIRC has a number of distinguishing features. One is its scripting language which is further developed with each version. The scripting language can be used to make minor changes to the program like custom commands (aliases), but can also be used to completely alter the behavior and appearance of mIRC. Another feature is mIRC's file sharing abilities, via the DCC protocol, featuring a built in file server.^{[citation needed]}

Over the years, various features suggested by users have been incorporated. This includes support for multiple server connections, SSL, UTF-8 display support and an option to view channels and notify lists in a treebar format rather than the default switchbar.^{[citation needed]} mIRC is still in active development but it is very rarely announced what features will be introduced in the future.^{[citation needed]}

As of mIRC 7.1, released on July 30, 2010,^[9] it is now a Unicode application and has IPv6 support.

mIRC scripting

Main article: mIRC scripting language

mIRC's abilities and behaviors can be altered and extended using the embedded mIRC scripting language.

mIRC scripting is not limited to IRC related events and commands. There is also support for COM objects, calling DLLs, sockets and dialog boxes, among other things. This allows the client to be used in a variety of ways beyond chatting, for example as an IRC bot, a media player, a web HTML parser or for other entertainment purposes such as mIRC games. In practice however, mIRC will not be used solely for such specific purposes, but rather scripts for such purposes are addons for the client, which will otherwise be used for chatting.

Due to the level of access the language has to a user's computer, for example, being able to rename and delete files, a number of abusive scripts have been made. Perhaps one of the more prominent examples of abuse was that executed with the $decode identifier which decodes a given encoded string. Many users who did not understand this were misguided into decoding strings which executed commands on their systems. Such messages were disguised as a fake promise of operator status in an IRC channel. However, this led to changes being made in version 6.17 so $decode is now disabled by default and various other features which can be considered 'dangerous' are able to be locked.

Criticism

Onno Tijdgat, author of Ircle, criticizes mIRC's color format, arguing that it uses a flawed design and follows no common standard.^[10] Khaled Mardam-Bey responded to this criticism, observing that there was no common standard between IRC clients at the time so using any one existing format would "have annoyed those clients that didn't use that particular format". Ultimately this led to him creating a new format designed for ease of use, however he acknowledged that "the design should have been more robust".^[11]

See also

• Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients
• mIRC scripting language

References

1. ^ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. http://www.mirc.com/news.html. Retrieved 2011-10-14. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "mIRC: Personal FAQ". mirc.com. http://www.mirc.com/pfaq.html. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
3. ^ "mIRC". Download.CNet.com. http://www.download.com/mIRC/3000-2150_4-10001733.html. Retrieved 2011-02-03. 
4. ^ "InternetNews Traffic Patterns 2003". InternetNews.com. http://www.internetnews.com/stats/article.php/3096631. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
5. ^ mIRC: Personal FAQ. mirc.com.
6. ^ Registration. mirc.com.
7. ^ mIRC 6.0 drops 16bit support. mirc.com.
8. ^ mIRC download for 6.35 and latest version. mirc.com.
9. ^ "mIRC: Latest News". mirc.com. http://www.mirc.com/news.html. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
10. ^ "Color FAQ". ircle.com. http://www.ircle.com/colorfaq.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
11. ^ "Re: Khaled's personal article/mIRC criticism on Wikipedia". mirc.com. January 31, 2008. http://forums.mirc.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=2&Number=194218&Searchpage=2&Main=36021&Words=Wikipedia&topic=0&Search=true#Post194218. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 

External links

• Official website
• Official page of mIRC's author