building a server app

[801119]

Greetings all,

Oki all.. it's summer, I've got a shitty job.. and so low on cash I want to think of nothing but programming ...(j/k, women too )

I've been wanting to build a cheap MSN/ICQ clone.. the only problem I've encountered is the server. I have absolutely NO idea on how to build it..
The puter-2-puter code is the easy part, but for that to work I need to know the ip address of the other puter..
only need some guidelines, can't think right now :s

do you guys/gals know what to think of?! or have a good link where I can find some info on where to start... would really appreciate it!!

Thx,
/801119
My codes look like something a kid wrote
I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about
Somehow I still manage to make it work

 

[cyprus106]

What exactly do you want, are you looking to build a server? do you want some other way of connecting...?

Tell you what, I've got kind of a pet project that you might be interested in. It's that whole chat thing, client server... p2p. Kind of like AIM but not really, no... Fun little toy. If you want to play with it or see what you can't pull out of it, drop me a line at hackcyprus@hotmail.com Cyprus

 

[801119]

To be more specific I'm trying to build a program doing these things:
When someone connects to the server it will lookup that computers IP address, and send back information about whom is online!
For instance, I have "Frank", "Bill" and "Julie" on my "friends list"(this information will be stored on the server machine), and when I connect the server will tell me which of these(if any) are online, so that the client can send an "online" msg to those three o)

Now that I think of it, I really don't know what my problem is . However, what I'm not sure of is how to comunicate, server/client, nor how I should write the server..

and cyprus106, I would very much like to have a peek of that project of yours, if it's not to much to ask for My codes look like something a kid wrote
I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about
Somehow I still manage to make it work

 

[cyprus106]

Sure thing. Drop me a line and I'll pull it out of the closet.
Actually, I kind of see what you want, and I could tell you how to do it, but the code is pretty long. I'll work on making you an example of it because I've been meaning to do exactly that for some time now, I just haven't had the time, or maybe I needed a good excuse. Either way, I'll see what I can't do. Cyprus