The connections between nodes are called links . Clients are programs that run on the computer of the user that wants to be involved in a conversation. The network connections are reliable point to point connections. Each network node has a unique address within that network. A node may have connections on different types of networks, so that information can travel from one network to another.
Conversations take place in channels .
A channel has a unique symbolic name, which is used to refer to it. A client can join a channel, after which all events on that channel are sent to the client by the server the client is connected to, and everything the client does on the channel is sent to all clients on the channel. An event can be a client joining or leaving a channel, or a client saying something on a channel. A client can join more than one channel at a time. A special type of channel is the newschannel , which are meant for news distribution or other one-way traffic.