MIRC
Encyclopedia
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. Nielsen/NetRatings also ranked mIRC among the top ten most popular Internet applications in 2003.
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
").
client
s 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. mIRC is shareware
and costs $20 to register after the 30-day evaluation period.
5.91 is the final version to support 16-bit
Windows, whilst 6.35 is the last to support Windows 95
, NT 4.0
, 98
, and ME
. The current version supports Windows 2000
and later.
protocol, featuring a built in file server.
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. mIRC is still in active development but it is very rarely announced what features will be introduced in the future.
As of mIRC 7.1, released on July 30, 2010, it is now a Unicode
application and has IPv6
support.
mIRC scripting is not limited to IRC related events and commands. There is also support for COM objects
, calling DLLs
, sockets
and dialog box
es, 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.
, criticizes mIRC's color format, arguing that it uses a flawed design and follows no common standard. 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".
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
(IRC) client for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, created in 1995 and developed by Khaled Mardam-Bey
Khaled Mardam-Bey
Khaled Mardam-Bey is a British programmer of Palestinian and Syrian origin. He is notable for creating and developing the popular Internet Relay Chat client for Microsoft Windows mIRC.-mIRC:...
. Although it is a fully functional chat utility, its integrated scripting language makes it extensible
Extensibility
In software engineering, extensibility is a system design principle where the implementation takes into consideration future growth. It is a systemic measure of the ability to extend a system and the level of effort required to implement the extension...
and versatile.
mIRC has been downloaded over 30 million times from CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
's Download.com
Download.com
Download.com is an Internet download directory website, launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Originally, the domain was download.com.com. The domain download.com attracted at least 113 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study....
service. Nielsen/NetRatings also ranked mIRC among the top ten most popular Internet applications in 2003.
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
Mu (negative)
or Wu , is a word which has been translated variously as "not", "nothing", "without", "nothingness", "non existent", "non being", or evocatively simply as "no thing"...
").
History
Khaled Mardam-Bey decided to create mIRC because he found the first IRCInternet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
client
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
s 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. mIRC is shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
and costs $20 to register after the 30-day evaluation period.
5.91 is the final version to support 16-bit
16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
Windows, whilst 6.35 is the last to support Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
, 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, and ME
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
. The current version supports Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and later.
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 DCCDirect Client-to-Client
Direct Client-to-Client is an IRC-related sub-protocol enabling peers to interconnect using an IRC server for handshaking in order to exchange files or perform non-relayed chats. Once established, a typical DCC session runs independently from the IRC server. Originally designed to be used with...
protocol, featuring a built in file server.
Over the years, various features suggested by users have been incorporated. This includes support for multiple server connections, SSL
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
, UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for Unicode. Like UTF-16 and UTF-32, UTF-8 can represent every character in the Unicode character set. Unlike them, it is backward-compatible with ASCII and avoids the complications of endianness and byte order marks...
display support and an option to view channels and notify lists in a treebar format rather than the default switchbar. mIRC is still in active development but it is very rarely announced what features will be introduced in the future.
As of mIRC 7.1, released on July 30, 2010, it is now a Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
application and has IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
support.
mIRC scripting
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
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
, calling DLLs
Dynamic-link library
Dynamic-link library , or DLL, is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems...
, sockets
Internet socket
In computer networking, an Internet socket or network socket is an endpoint of a bidirectional inter-process communication flow across an Internet Protocol-based computer network, such as the Internet....
and dialog box
Dialog box
In a graphical user interface of computers, a dialog box is a type of window used to enable reciprocal communication or "dialog" between a computer and its user. It may communicate information to the user, prompt the user for a response, or both...
es, 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
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
parser
Parsing
In computer science and linguistics, parsing, or, more formally, syntactic analysis, is the process of analyzing a text, made of a sequence of tokens , to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar...
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 IrcleIrcle
Ircle is an IRC client developed by Onno Tijdgat for the Macintosh computer platform. Ircle is shareware, with free upgrades...
, criticizes mIRC's color format, arguing that it uses a flawed design and follows no common standard. 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".