How Does Internet Relay Chat Work?

I’m sure that there is no internet user who haven’t had used a chat software to be in touch with some one. Internet chat systems have become a part of our daily life where we use them both at home and office and some times while traveling. For frequent travelers, there is chat software developed for their mobile devices. When it comes to internet chat, no one can forget IRC (Internet Relay Chat). If Usenet is for web, then IRC is for chat.

Let’s see how IRC works in laymen's terms. IRC is a client-server system, which means that you need to have a client software installed in your computer. There are hundreds of IRC clients available for all the platforms including some rarely used operating systems.

When you want to chat through IRC, you make a connection to internet and then start the IRC client. You will then, need to login to the IRC server located somewhere in the internet. There are thousands of IRC servers located world wide and they are connected to one another so IRC messages can be sent across many servers resulting in a single network for all IRC users. The IRC servers are usually connected hierarchically.

When connected to the server, you choose a specific channel to join and choose a username to identify yourself in the chat. There are thousands of IRC channels created for different topics, groups and demographics. When the user joins to the channel, the existing messages are displayed and the user can join by typing questions or comments. Usually the regular users who participate for IRC channels are experienced professionals in the respective area of topic so if you are new, you may need to see the content of the other messages and the level of the discussions. Otherwise, no one would respond to your query.

The other important thing is that there is a different terminology used in IRC channels. If you are a new user, you are strongly recommended to learn the abbreviations before hand. Otherwise, you will be the ugly duckling of the IRC channel!