Ircle

Ircle
Developer(s) Onno Tijdgat
Stable release 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007 (2007-11-17)) [±]
Written in C
Operating system macOS, classic Mac OS
Platform x86, PowerPC
Type IRC client
License Proprietary
Website http://ircle.com/

Ircle (formerly rendered as "IRCle"[1]) was an IRC client developed by Onno Tijdgat for the Macintosh computer platform. Ircle was shareware, with free upgrades. The client was scriptable with AppleScript, supported multiple channels and servers, and up to ten simultaneous connections. Since 2012, Ircle was not compatible with most recent versions of OS X, and no updates were available. Currently the Ircle home page contains no links other than a Google Adsense banner ad and attempting to access the download page by the url exposed through Google SiteLinks returns only the text "Not available".


History

Ircle was originally written in THINK Pascal by Olaf Titz and released in 1993, with the source code licensed under the GPL[2] up to version 1.56.[3] Titz then gave up on the project and Tijdgat took over. Tijdgat continued development privately, rewriting it in C under Metrowerks CodeWarrior Pro and updating it for the then-new Power Macs.[3] Ircle 3.0 was released in 1994. The Talk City internet chat service supported Ircle,[4] and as of 2000, negotiated for a custom version called "Talk City Ircle", free for subscribers, with "comparable features without the disruption" from flood attacks.[5]

Tijdgat announced in December 2005 that extensive work was underway to update Ircle for x86 based Macs. The upgrades were to be backward compatible with older CPUs, while development for Mac OS 7, 8, and 9 would cease. On September 21, 2006, the Intel compatible (universal binary) version was released with a number of new features.

Features

Ircle supported up to ten server connections, and comes configured with a "long list of servers".[6] The "channelbar" feature simplified managing the otherwise large number of windows in Ircle.[6] Applescript allowed detailed control and modification of the client.[7] Third party developer Public Access Software hosted Ircle Scripting Resources, Applescript scripts for Ircle-based tools, applications and even games, until 1999.[8][9] The Ircle "faces" window displays updateable images of chat contacts.[10][11]

Reception

Ircle was once described as "the most widely used IRC client for Macintosh computers", "stable, full-featured", with "good user support,"[7] and "one of the best" Mac IRC clients.[12] The "one downside" to Ircle was "a rather intimidating preferences dialog".[1][13] One author described it as "the godfather of Mac IRC clients. It has been around the longest and has the most features, making it the de facto gold standard against which all other clients compare themselves."[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hart, David L.; Bourne, Philip E. (1998). Mac OS 8 Web Server Cookbook. Prentice Hall. p. 133.
  2. ↑ Titz, Olaf (November 25, 1993). "Ircle Abstract". Info-Mac HyperArchive. Archived from the original on 2000-03-04.
  3. 1 2 Tijdgat, Onno. "License and Credits". ircle.com.
  4. ↑ McKirdy, Eric, ed. (April 5, 1996). "Talk of the Town - Issue #3". chat.talkcity.com.
  5. ↑ "Dear Talk Citizens". Talk City. April 13, 2000. Archived from the original on November 9, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Golbeck, Jennifer (2004). Dornfest, Rael; Davidson, James Duncan, eds. Mac OS X Panther Hacks (2nd ed.). O'Reilly Media. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-596-00718-3.
  7. 1 2 Bidgoli, Hossein, ed. (2003). The Internet Encyclopedia. 2. Wiley. p. 312. ISBN 0-471-22204-6.
  8. ↑ "Ircle AppleScript Resource Closing! Public Access Software Shifts Gears". MacObserver.com. July 6, 1999.
  9. ↑ "Wordscore 3 released". MacObserver.com. December 27, 1999.
  10. ↑ Garrett, David Lane (1996). "Intranets Unleashed". Sams Publishing. ISBN 1-57521-115-7. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Ircle Reference : Faces". ircle.com.
  12. ↑ Levine Young, Margaret (1999). Internet: The Complete Reference. Osborne Publishing. p. 338. ISBN 0-07-211942-X.
  13. ↑ "Preferences". ircle.com.
  14. ↑ Charalabidis, Alex (1999-12-15). "IRCing On The Macintosh: Ircle". The Book of IRC: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Relay Chat (1st ed.). San Francisco, California: No Starch Press. p. 61. ISBN 1-886411-29-8.
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