Community Byte: Hack Our IRC Bot to Issue Commands

Last week's Community Byte we got off to a great start! We had a few people build our IRC bot, and all went well. We had some great contributers, ideas, and people willing to learn. So, needless to say, we will be having another. Let's try to get a few more people involved this time!

These coding sessions are done via the Gobby collaborative text editor, and we speak through the in-program chat application. Everyone can code simultaneously and exchange ideas. This community activity is meant for people new to programming, as well as more experienced programmers.

Work Flow

1. Everyone joins the Gobby session.
2. I start to create a code block, complete with helpful comments.
3. I explain the code, and why it does what it does.
4. Other people jump in to code and comment.
5. Rinse and repeat steps 2-5.

Prerequisites

• Basic computer literacy
• Your brain
• Will to learn
• Python2.7 installed on your computer
• An IRC client, like XChat
• Gobby, a real-time collaborative code editor
• Connected to IRC

How Does this Work?

We will be using IRC to round people up before the coding. In IRC, I will assist whoever needs help connecting to the Gobby session. If you're new to IRC, go here to learn how to set it up and use it. I will be hosting a Gobby server for everyone to connect to, which allows us all to code in real-time, with everyone able to view and learn the code as we go along. Gobby makes coding with friends over long distance fun and easy.

When Does it Start?

Coding takes place every Friday at 5:00 pm PST, so be in IRC around that time. At the end of each session, I will post the code to the forums, and write a post about how it works, and what our code can do!

Project Goals

For this week's Community Byte, we are going to take our bot code that we made last week, and hack it! This means that we will be taking our code, revising it, and adding as many new features as we can think of. But first, here are some goals that I have set, so we can keep on track, and on time:

• NullBot will be able to issue IRC commands, like OP and KICK.
• Cleaner, revised code.
• Try to get each member to add something of their own.
• Everyone will learn a bit of Python.
• Bring the community together and teach each other new things!
• Get more people in IRC.

The Null Byte IRC has moved from irc.freenode.net to irc.darchoods.net. Check out the updated and revised tutorial for connecting to us. I'm still idling in both channels to help people make the switch, so don't be afraid to join!