Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is achat system on theInternet. People from around the world can use it to have conversations together. It can also be used for two people to chat privately.[1]
The IRCchat rooms are also calledIRC channels. These channels are on IRCservers, which you can connect to by finding that server's information. This information will often begin with "irc," then a period, the name of the server, then another period, and finally, .com .org or .net. An example would be 'irc.[Servername].org'
There aresmall IRC servers (for example, OperaNet) to medium IRC servers (freenode and DalNet, which have about 30,000 users) andbig IRC servers (for example, EFNet, UnderNet, which have over 100,000 users).
Users of IRC need an IRC client. An IRC client is acomputer program that works with IRC. There are many clients. Some of these clients run in the web browser. Other clients run as an application. Popular stand-alone clients includemIRC forMicrosoft Windows, andXChat forLinux andMicrosoft Windows. TheOpera web browser has an IRC client built into the browser.ChatZilla is a chat client which is aplugin toMozilla Firefox.
AnIRC bot is a computer program that helps control and protect channels.
The name of an IRC channel usually begins with a hash (#).
IRC is an openprotocol that usesTCP and optionallyTLS. An IRC server can connect to other IRC servers to expand the IRC network. Users access IRC networks by connecting a client to a server. There are many client and server programs. Most IRC servers do not require users to log in, but a user will have to set a nickname before being connected.
IRC was originally aplain textprotocol (although later extended),[2] which on request was assignednetwork port 194/TCP byIANA. However, most servers now run IRC on 6667/TCP and nearby port numbers (for example TCP ports 6112-6119) so that the server does not have to be run withroot privileges.
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