glirc#

glirc is a CLI-based IRC client written in Go.

What the Project Is#

• Learning project for Go and IRC

How It Works#

• type Message struct for incoming and outgoing messages
• parser/serializer for messages
• type Client struct with handler maps for client and server message processing, goroutines and channels for I/O

Engineering Decisions#

type Client struct#

Took all code out of the main method and put it in client.go for separation of concerns and easier debugging.

*_handlers.go#

Parse input/output and call the appropriate method based on message command. Much easier to create, update and delete commands and their matching handlers.

Tech Stack#

• Languages used: Go
• Frameworks/libraries: tview (TUI)

What I Learned#

• IRC is really cool!
• Go is very interesting, glad to have got the experience with it.

How to Run the Project#

Note: you will need a config.json file containing your nickname, username, server and port. Place this in the root directory after cloning the repository.

{
    "nick": "yournick",
    "user": "Your Name",
    "server": "irc.libera.chat",
    "port": 6697
}

git clone https://github.com/liampallett/glirc.git 
cd glirc
go build
./glirc

Project Structure#

├── LICENSE.md
├── README.md
├── client.go
├── client_handlers.go
├── config.go
├── go.mod
├── main.go
├── message.go
├── parser_test.go
├── server_handlers.go
└── ui.go

Future Improvements#

• Expand TUI
• More supported commands.