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- REVIEW: THE IRC SURVIVAL GUIDE by Stuart Harris Addison-Wesley 1995
-
- To be brutally frank, Internet Relay Chat or IRC for short is not one of
- my favorite on-line activities. I sinply don't have the time! However,
- in the interest of reviewing this title, I made my IRC debut the other night
- and it was quite interesting, to say the least. I am not going to describe
- the fun and features of IRC - Stuart Harris' book does that quite well.
-
- Although there are over 400 commands that the most advanced IRC client
- software can understand, there are five basic commands that will allow
- you to establish an identity and join the fun. And what a strange and
- interesting world it is - everything from love and romance to a solid
- news source from Moscow during the 1993 attempted coup against Boris
- Yeltsin when all other communications channels were shut off.
-
- After a brief explanation of IRC and its history, we learn some elementary
- commands and get some hands-on experience (pun intended!) Now, if
- the bug has bitten, you'll find intermediate and advanced commands that
- will give you a good handle on IRC when you're done. There's a chapter
- on use and abuse of freedom of speech which is very important in putting
- the whole thing in perspective. Finally, the appendices give you a summary
- of command syntax, listing of IRC servers around the world, a glossary of
- IRC jargon and a listing of country codes so you can look up and find what
- country the various folks on-line are in.
-
- I've read that IRC is like Citizens Band radio of the 1970s and indeed, it
- is very similar. Its an interesting diversion that I would not be adversed
- to playing with from time to time. THE IRC SURVIVAL GUIDE is a very
- comprehensive tutorial and I found it very useful in helping me gain the
- necessary skills.
-
-
- %T The IRC Survival Guide
- %A Stuart Harris
- %I Addison-Wesley
- %C Reading Massachusetts
- %D 1995
- %O $17.95
- %G ISBN: 0-201-41000-1
- %P 213 pp
- %K Internet Relay Chat, IRC
-
-
- (C) 1995
- Michael Crestohl
- Nahant Massachusetts USA
- mc@shore.net
-
- DISCLAIMER: I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in the success or
- failure of the book or materials reviewed herewith, nor have I received any
- compensation (other than a review copy requested by me) from anyone who has.
- All opinions expressed are strictly my own.
-
- Other Internet and Aviation book/software reviews by me can be obtained
- by anonymous FTP from: x2ftp.oulu.fi in the /pub/books/crestohl directory.
-