alexyoung / jschat

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JSON-based chat that has web and console clients, and a server — Read more

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Prevented web client from displaying your own name changes because this 
was duplicating the messages, added a helper for current nickname (from 
cookie), made lastlog request names to clear up the name list, made 
sign-on use same lastlog helper instead replicating the same 
functionality

alexyoung (author)

Sat Nov 14 05:24:49 -0800 2009

commit 300a5d721fad33661ac7a9c0b8e1f6b7acd991a1
tree 5e8c047558b609681aa05a9084115ba15fd2714e
parent 7d30854d88b7754289b143e0c101729729b0858f

jschat /

name	age	history message
.gitignore	Fri Jun 05 02:30:38 -0700 2009	Added image onload handling to scroll the messa... [alexyoung]
MIT-LICENSE	Thu May 28 03:07:15 -0700 2009	Added license and blog reference to the web site [alexyoung]
README.textile	Tue Jul 07 10:51:24 -0700 2009	Just for Burkle. Closes #57 [nickmartini]
client.rb	Tue Jun 02 02:35:52 -0700 2009	Clients must now send JSON data with line endings [alexyoung]
http/	Sat Nov 14 05:24:49 -0800 2009	Prevented web client from displaying your own n... [alexyoung]
jschat.rb	Thu Nov 12 02:53:50 -0800 2009	Room joining now handles backlog and name updat... [alexyoung]
lib/	Mon Nov 09 04:52:50 -0800 2009	Added error handling for timed out persistent c... [alexyoung]
server.rb	Mon May 11 03:21:31 -0700 2009	Maximum message length now detected and an erro... [alexyoung]
test/	Fri Nov 06 04:26:34 -0800 2009	Added initial stateless protocol implementation [alexyoung]

README.textile

JsChat is a chat system. It has an easy to learn JSON protocol, an ncurses client, a web app, and a server. You can try it right now on jschat.org.

JsChat is similar to IRC, but it’s a fundamentally simpler system.

The web app has lots of interesting features:

IRC-like commands: /names, /name new_name (/nick works too), /clear, /lastlog
It’s pretty tiny; it’s built with Sinatra and Prototype
Auto-linking: pasting an image displays it inline, youtube and vimeo videos will appear as well
Last messages are displayed on join: the last 100 messages are displayed, so you don’t feel lost when you join a room
Tab completion!

Ruby Library Requirements

These gems are required by JsChat:

eventmachine
ncurses (for the client)
json

Usage

Run the server with ./server.rb
Connect a client with ./client.rb

The web app must be run alongside the server. The web app must be started in production mode:

http/jschat.rb -e production

The web app currently has no database dependencies, it’s a wrapper that links cookies to JsChat server proxies. You can run it on port 80 by configuring Rack or an Apache proxy. I have Apache set up this way on jschat.org.

Client Commands

Change name or identify: /nick name
Join a room: /join #room
Join a room (alias): /j #room

Protocol Design

The protocol is designed to be as close to executable JSON as possible, so clients and servers are simple to implement.

Look at client.rb JsChat::Protocol to see what I mean.

The Future

Hugely scalable nanite clusters with redundancy and ridiculous uptime, and an uplink to the Millennium Falcon. Skynet will launch its tactical nukes and humanity will be all but wiped out. Woops…

Hey, this is like Campfire!

I love Campfire and I didn’t intend for JsChat to compete with it. JsChat is just a fun project, it doesn’t offer Campfire’s business-friendly interface, file hosting, transcripts and Basecamp integration.

Credits

JsChat was created by Alex Young for Helicoid. A growing group of friends are helping out:

nickmartini
gabrielg
Kevin Ford

If you’d like to contribute, send alexyoung a message on GitHub.

I TYPE GREAT!