;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;; Rocker's IRC-Mode (Internet Relay Chat), dock
;; Copyright (C) 1992, Tom "Rocker" Hinds
;;
;; This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
;; any later version.
;;
;; This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
;; GNU General Public License for more details.
;;
;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
;; along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
;; Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

;; Comments and/or bug reports about this interface should be directed to:
;;     Tom Hinds              <rocker@csa.bu.edu>
;;     Generally available on IRC as "Rocker"

Welcome to the world of IRC via emacs. IRC means Internet Relay Chat.
The ircbeta.el (M-x irc) is a client interface into linking into the
network of IRC servers.

[ add some IRC history later ]

[ This may be expanded later for novice use. ]

The basics of what sets the ircbeta.el client apart for the C-clients, that
I know of.

All commands and output are all done in the same buffer. Commands are
delimited by a "/".

1) '/MSG <nick|channel>' is included in the client for those who slip into 
or prefer that method in this manner of msging. The common place method of
messaging starts with

<nick|channel>; <msg>

ie  'rocker; hey, how this thing doesn't work still?'


Two special characters in sending messages are ":" and ";"

  ":" will self-insert the name of the last person who sent you a message

  ";" will self-insert the name of the person you last sent a message to

These have saved alot of typing for many people. Though it does have drawbacks.
[ list drawbacks ]