primus has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Fellow Monks,

I wasn't quite sure where this node should be posted, but here it goes.

A while back, a friend of mine wrote Milkbone ( written in perl ) with new features and options being added everyday. I want to know what the PerlMonks think about IM clients, and what they should contain.

The feedback of the perl community is important to me, and I was just wondering what you thought about IM clients. I want to know the good, the bad, and the in-between.

Thanks for the support.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: ~ Instant Messaging Clients ~
by theorbtwo (Prior) on May 05, 2003 at 18:57 UTC
    1. Free of leaks, hanging bugs, and other things that tend to cut off conversations at the worst possible time.
    2. Multiprotocol support: AIM, Yahoo, MSN, perlmonks. (You could be the only non-dedicated client to support perlmonks as a chat protocol!)
    3. Easy to add new protocols to.
    4. Umm... sure I'm forgetting somthing, but IM clients really should be simple. GAIM is a better example than ICQ.

    Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

[reply]
      primus, this reply is for you, and for all the monks who will read this thread in the future. I write this to document some of the "common knowledge" which will/might fade from the Monastary in time.

      I suggest that you listen very carefully to theorbtwo when he talks about IM. He wrote the AIM to CB gateway. He spends much time online IMing. He found a girlfriend online, via IM. (On a different continent, 6 hours away.) His homenode currently lists 4 IM protocols by which he can be reached (not including Chat :).

      There may be Monks who have more IM-fu than theorbtwo, but I don't know of them or their *-fu.

      And regarding Instant Messaging, you might want to check out the various CB clients available here. Lots of cool ways to chat.

      Perl programming and scheduling in the corporate world, as explained by dragonchild:
      "Uhh ... that'll take me three weeks, broken down as follows: 1 day for coding, the rest for meetings to explain why I only need 1 day for coding."
[reply]
Re: ~ Instant Messaging Clients ~
by phydeauxarff (Priest) on May 05, 2003 at 19:22 UTC
    If you are looking for something to emulate, I highly recommend checking out Trillian

    It does a pretty good job of implementing cross platform (AOL, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo) chat that can be used in one-client as well as supporting encrypted chat, which IMHO is a must.

[reply]
Re: ~ Instant Messaging Clients ~
by Beatnik (Parson) on May 05, 2003 at 21:21 UTC
    I swear by GAIM these days. Not only does it support most IM types I have an account for, it also runs on linux and windows and it supports perl plugins. I'm always like things that support perl plugins... see XChat for your IRC needs.

    Greetz
    Beatnik
    ... I'm belgian but I don't play one on TV.
[reply]
Re: ~ Instant Messaging Clients ~
by Anonymous Monk on May 05, 2003 at 18:19 UTC
    I have always been a big fan of talk
[reply]

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