4 ms·

Show HN: my weekend project, a "framework" for IRC apps/bots

24 points by llambda 15y ago

This is a little project I've been working on for a while in order to better learn Python. Although IRC may not exactly be the most exciting medium, I still find it to be fun and useful, this interest lead me to writing a bot. In doing this I realized that what would actually be more interesting would be if I had a framework. There may already be such a thing, certainly there are IRC libraries, but I don't know if they're well-suited to deploying bots. At any rate if for no other reason than the fact that I am relatively new to programming and eager to learn I decided to build a framework. The API is heavily influenced by Flask and other similar frameworks. It's fairly easy to write a simple bot and the framework will do things like reload the bot source on the fly as changes are made, attempt to reconnect when the connection is lost, and dispatch plugins in a threaded manner. I'd love to read any feedback! :) Here's the project on GitHub --> https://github.com/maxcountryman/irctk

llambda 15y ago
Clickable: https://github.com/maxcountryman/irctk https://github.com/maxcountryman/irctk Just a clarification, IrcTK is not itself a bot, it's a framework for writing IRC applications or bots. So this is different from say Supybot or some other bot that was written as a self-contained application in that instead of writing plugins for those bots with IrcTK you import the framework and write your own bot (essentially a set of plugins as either commands or events).
azs114 15y ago
Check out supybot.
coleifer 15y ago
Looks cool, I tried my hand at this not too long ago if you're interedted in comparing notes: https://github.com/coleifer/irc/ https://github.com/coleifer/irc/
- llambda 15y ago
  Oh interesting. I'm looking at it now. How are you handling plugin dispatching? Are the plugins threaded?
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
pux0r3 15y ago
This past weekend I did something similar, but to learn about the new WinRT/Metro stuff in Windows 8. My github project is at: https://github.com/patm1987/PuxIrc https://github.com/patm1987/PuxIrc
joezydeco 15y ago
Try Phenny. I wrote a module for Phenny that captures URLs and tweets them to our channel friends. Pretty easy to learn and extend: http://inamidst.com/phenny/ http://inamidst.com/phenny/
oinksoft 15y ago
Why is it called irctk if it doesn't use Tk?? I recommend you hot-reload code. My IRC bot is a humble 150LOC split over two files. The basic bot logic to connect to a network lives in the script I run. That bot object sets its handler to an object imported from the second script, checking that second script's mtime regularly and if changed, reloads that module and re-sets the handler object. It lets me change bot behavior on the fly without disconnecting, which is a pretty important thing to do if you don't want to be guilty of JOIN/PART spam. def set_handler(self, reloaded=False): self.handler = pigbot_handler.PigBotHandler(self, reloaded) self.handler_mtime = os.stat(self.handler_file).st_mtime def start_timer(self): self.timer = threading.Timer(1, self.check_handler_file) self.timer.start() def check_handler_file(self): if (os.path.exists(self.handler_file)): mtime = os.stat(self.handler_file).st_mtime if mtime > self.handler_mtime: self.log('pigbot_handler changed, reloading ...') reload(pigbot_handler) self.handler_mtime = mtime self.set_handler(reloaded=True) self.start_timer()
- llambda 15y ago
  1. TK == ToolKit a la libraries such as Werkzeug (toolbox) 2. It already does this. See the description. :)
  - oinksoft 15y ago
    I was looking at the example code, where bot logic and the run() was defined in the same module. That can't be reloaded. The reloader looks like it works for "plugins." It all seems unnecessarily complex to me. Also, your handlers should be provided with the channel in which the command was triggered. That doesn't seem to be set in the context dict that is passed to commands. Another thing is that the bot model is very restrictive, as I've often seen with this sort of tool: You have events and commands, and that's it. It looks like the case of "try and match this regex, and do something with the result" would be possible, but made overly complex.
    - llambda 15y ago

24 points by llambda 15y ago

llambda 15y ago

Clickable: https://github.com/maxcountryman/irctk https://github.com/maxcountryman/irctk Just a clarification, IrcTK is not itself a bot, it's a framework for writing IRC applications or bots. So this is different from say Supybot or some other bot that was written as a self-contained application in that instead of writing plugins for those bots with IrcTK you import the framework and write your own bot (essentially a set of plugins as either commands or events).

azs114 15y ago

Check out supybot.

coleifer 15y ago

Looks cool, I tried my hand at this not too long ago if you're interedted in comparing notes: https://github.com/coleifer/irc/ https://github.com/coleifer/irc/

llambda 15y ago
Oh interesting. I'm looking at it now. How are you handling plugin dispatching? Are the plugins threaded?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

pux0r3 15y ago

This past weekend I did something similar, but to learn about the new WinRT/Metro stuff in Windows 8. My github project is at: https://github.com/patm1987/PuxIrc https://github.com/patm1987/PuxIrc

joezydeco 15y ago

Try Phenny. I wrote a module for Phenny that captures URLs and tweets them to our channel friends. Pretty easy to learn and extend: http://inamidst.com/phenny/ http://inamidst.com/phenny/

oinksoft 15y ago

Why is it called irctk if it doesn't use Tk?? I recommend you hot-reload code. My IRC bot is a humble 150LOC split over two files. The basic bot logic to connect to a network lives in the script I run. That bot object sets its handler to an object imported from the second script, checking that second script's mtime regularly and if changed, reloads that module and re-sets the handler object. It lets me change bot behavior on the fly without disconnecting, which is a pretty important thing to do if you don't want to be guilty of JOIN/PART spam. def set_handler(self, reloaded=False): self.handler = pigbot_handler.PigBotHandler(self, reloaded) self.handler_mtime = os.stat(self.handler_file).st_mtime def start_timer(self): self.timer = threading.Timer(1, self.check_handler_file) self.timer.start() def check_handler_file(self): if (os.path.exists(self.handler_file)): mtime = os.stat(self.handler_file).st_mtime if mtime > self.handler_mtime: self.log('pigbot_handler changed, reloading ...') reload(pigbot_handler) self.handler_mtime = mtime self.set_handler(reloaded=True) self.start_timer()

llambda 15y ago
1. TK == ToolKit a la libraries such as Werkzeug (toolbox) 2. It already does this. See the description. :)
- oinksoft 15y ago
  I was looking at the example code, where bot logic and the run() was defined in the same module. That can't be reloaded. The reloader looks like it works for "plugins." It all seems unnecessarily complex to me. Also, your handlers should be provided with the channel in which the command was triggered. That doesn't seem to be set in the context dict that is passed to commands. Another thing is that the bot model is very restrictive, as I've often seen with this sort of tool: You have events and commands, and that's it. It looks like the case of "try and match this regex, and do something with the result" would be possible, but made overly complex.
  - llambda 15y ago