pesterchum/readme.txt

Welcome to Pesterchum 3.14 alpha!

This software is currently in alpha testing. That means there will
probably be a lot of bugs!! Here's some tips to help you get started:

- You can import your old Pesterchum contacts by going to
CLIENT->IMPORT and opening your pesterchum.cfg file. This is usually
in the 2.5 base directory or in Tinychum's data folder.
- The Trollian theme can be confusing if you haven't used the program
already! Some hints: moods are set by clicking the timelines, and you
can add chums by clicking "Chumproll." Moods correspond to the troll
that would most likely exhibit them.
- Right-click is your friend! There are useful right clicks
options on the chumroll, by clicking the chumhandle in a conversation,
online userlist, or the list of memo browsers.

Cool features:
- Importing from old PC. It can already do your chumlist, soon it will
import your quirks from 2.5 and TC as well!
- Profile switching. Instantly switch profiles, loading your color and
quirks with it.
- Theme switching and creation. So far this comes with a few official
themes! But you can also make your own: just make a new directory in
the themes folder with the proper images and style.js file. The
style.js file will be documented soon, but feel free to poke at it.
- Memos. Memos that are a lot more like the ones in the comic and
allow you to appear at multiple different times in one chat.
- Quirks: Prefix, suffix, simple replace, regexp replace (like in
2.5), random replacement, and an auto-mispeller :P
- Block/user list
- Add/block chums directly from a conversation, the userlist, or memo
userlist.
- Logging. Logs are output in bbcode (for easy forum posting), html,
and plain text.
- Idling. You can set yourself idle manually, and the computer will
set it for you after 10 minutes.
- Improved /me. Any letters immediately following /me will be
processed correctly. e.g. /me'd rather be fishing -> -- ghostDunk'd
[GD'D] rather be fishing --
- Hyperlinks! Now if someone types http://whatever it will turn into a
link you can just click and follow. No more copy/paste.
- Memo links. Link your friends to your memos.
- Smilies. We've added about 30-40 smilies from the forums. There is a
list later on in this readme.

MEMOS
-----
One of the most interesting features to make was the memos, and make
them as close to the comic as I could without actually inventing time
travel. So here is the TIME TUTORIAL:

Joining: When you go CLIENT->MEMOS, you'll see a list of memos pop up
-- those are memos people already have open. To join one, just
highlight one of them. If you want to make a new memo, just type it in
the input. If you'd like to make it secret, so that it doesn't appear
in the list, check "HIDDEN CHANNEL". Then, choose what timeframe you
want to appear to be in. So if you wanted to be in the future, you
could move the slider to the right. You can also enter the time
manually. Then hit JOIN.

Explaining time: Time in memos, unlike Homestuck, will not be relative
to your position. That is, if you choose 4:13 in the future, you will
not see someone who has set their time as "current" (or "0") in the
past: you will see them as "current" and yourself as "future." This is
because we do not have time travel! Memo time setting is basically an
RP mechanic: you are pretending to be from the future! It will also
help keep everyone straight: everyone will see the same thing!

The time slider: The slider shows your current position in the time
stream. If you want to change your time frame, simply move the slider
(or type a time in) and hit GO. This will open a new time frame, and
the next time you type a message, the memo will show that you've
responded to it in that time frame. You can now switch between your
time frames simply by clicking the arrows in the right hand
corner. (THIS COMES IN HANDY IF YOU WANT TO ARGUE WITH YOURSELF.) You
can have any number of open time frames, and the program will number
them in the order in which you open them (like in the comic). You can
have one of your time frames cease responding to the memo by hitting
"CLOSE." If you open that time frame again, the program will remember
the number it originally gave it. If you want to be mysteeeeeeeerious,
you can type in "?" and you will appear as ???. 

The memo viewer list: To the right is a list of people currently
browsing the memo. A shade icon next to their name means they are the
"operator" of the memo: meaning they can kick ("ban") people from the
memo and make other people operators as well. A "ban" is not permanent
(like in the comic), and the program will ask if you want to reconnect
to the memo. You kick and op people by right clicking their name in
the window. You can also add them to your chumroll!

Inviting people to your memo: You can link to a memo by simply typing
"#nameofmemo" in any conversation or memo window. So you can say: 

CG: NOW YOU, ME, AND EGBERT NEED TO HAVE A CHAT. 
CG: CLICK IT.
CG: #FRUITYRUMPUSASSHOLEFACTORY

and it will appear as a link that you can click, which will open the
memo chooser window.

QUIRKS
------
There are six kinds of quirks! I'll teach you how to use them all!
(In this section, I will use quotes ("") around things so it's clearer
to see exactly what to type! Don't include these quotes when using
these examples!

Prefix/Suffix: This will put text before or after everything you
say. So for example, we can use prefixes to emulate part of Nepeta or
Equius' quirks:

PREFIX: ":33 < "
You type: "*ac twitches her friendly whiskers at ct*"
Result:
AC: :33 < *ac twitches her friendly whiskers at ct* 

PREFIX: "D --> "
You type: "Hi"
Result:
CT: D --> Hi

Suffixes work the same way, but at the end of the message:
SUFFIX: "!!!"
You type: hey there
Result:
GD: hey there!!!

Remember that it doesn't automatically add a space! You'll need to add
it in (see CT and AC examples again!)

Simple Replace:
This will simply take a set of characters and replace them with other
characters. Let's add a quirk to our Nepeta:

Replace: "ee" With: "33"
You type: "*ac saunters from her dark cave a little bit sleepy from
the recent kill*"
Result: 
AC: :33 < *ac saunters from her dark cave a little bit sl33py from the
recent kill*

Let's add two to Equius:
Replace: "loo" With: "100"
Replace: "x" With "%"
You type: "look"
Result:
CT: D --> 100k 
You type: "What are you expecting to accomplish with this"
Result:
CT: D --> What are you e%pecting to accomplish with this 

Aradia:
Replace: "o" With: "0"
You type: "and the reward would be within our reach"
Result:
AA: and the reward w0uld be within 0ur reach

Notice that it is CASE SENSITIVE. So in the above case, if you typed
"ABSCOND", it would not replace the "O".

Sollux:
Replace: "i" With: "ii"
Replace: "s" With: "2"

Eridan:
Replace: "v" With: "vv"
Replace: "w" With: "ww"

Feferi:
Replace: "h" with: ")("
Replace: "H" with: ")("
Replace: "E" with: "-E"

Regexp Replace:

This is a more complex kind of replacement. Regexp stands for "regular
expression", a kind of programming language (yes, it is a language)
used to find and replace text. PC 3.14 also includes a function to
handle capitalization (upper()). If you want to learn it on your own,
I suggest you start with the Python tutorial
(http://docs.python.org/howto/regex.html) since PC 3.14 uses Python's
regexps. Check out V2.5's tutorial too, as that is a pretty good start
as well.

Let's start with Karkat. Regexps are just like your every day find and
replace: they search for a string that matches what you want to
replace, and replaces it with... the replacement.

Regexp: "(.)" Replace with: "upper(\1)"

Three concepts here. Let's look at the regexp. "(.)" has two things
going on. The first is that ".". In regexp speak, "." is the wildcard:
it will match *any* character -- and just one. 

The parentheses tell the regexp to *save* what's inside them so you
can put it back when you replace. That's what the "\1" is for -- it
means, "put the match inside parentheses #1 here". You can have any
number of parentheses.

"upper()" is a function special to PC 3.14 -- it will uppercase
anything inside the parentheses. So in this case, upper will uppercase
"\1" -- which, as you recall is what we found inside the
parentheses. Which was *every* character. So to sum up, it replaces
every character with an uppercase version of that character. WHICH
MAKES YOU TALK LIKE THIS.

Let's look at Terezi next.

Regexp: "[aA]" Replace with: "4"
Regexp: "[iI]" Replace with: "1"
Regexp: "[eE]" Replace with: "3"
Regexp: "(.)" Replace with: "upper(\1)"

We already know what the last line does. But what's up with those
brackets? What's their deal? Basically, in regular expressions,
brackets indicate a list of matching characters. So, basically any
single character within the brackets will be matched. In this case,
either "a" or "A" will be matched and replaced with "4," and likewise,
"i" and "I" will be replaced with "1", and "e" and "E" will be
replaced with "3."

You should also know that "^" is a special character in brackets. If
placed immediately after the opening bracket (like "[^"), then the
brackets instead match every character *except* the ones in the
brackets. So, for example, if you wanted to have a quirk where you
capitalized all your letters *except* o, you'd do this:

Regexp: "([^o])" Replace with: "upper(\1)"
You type: "hello there"
Result:
GD: HELLo THERE

You can also specify a *range* of characters inside the brackets, by
using the "-" character. [a-z] will match any lowercase letter. You
can combine them, too: [a-z0-9] will match any digit and lowercase letter.

There are also different shortcuts for character types:

\d matches any digit; same as [0-9]
\D matches any non-digit; same as [^0-9]
\s matches any spaces
\S matches any non-space
\w matches any alphanumeric character; same as [a-zA-Z0-9_]
\W matches any non-alphanumeric character; same as [^a-zA-Z0-9_]

You can include this inside brackets, too.

There's also a special character, \b. What \b does is make sure that
you are at the beginning or end of a word. So with that knowledge,
let's try Kanaya:

Regexp: \b(\w) Replace with: upper(\1)
You type: "i suggest you come to terms with it"
Result:
GA: I Suggest You Come To Terms With It

Another feature of regular expressions is the ability to match
*repeated* characters. There are three repeat characters: the "*", the
"+", "?", and "{m,n}". They work by playing them after the character,
or character type you want to match. (So, you could say "\s+" or ".*")

The "*" character matches ZERO or more of that character. So, for
example, "f*" would match "f" and "ff" -- and any other character!
That's right, every character counts as matching it zero times. Yeah,
it's weird. I suggest you use...

The "+" character matches ONE or more of that character. So, if we
wanted to have a character that wanted to elongate their s's so that
they used four 's's every time, like sssso, but didn't want to have
eight s's when using words with double s's, like pass, we'd do this:

Regexp: "s+" Replace with: "ssss"
You type: "you shall not pass"
Result:
UU: you sssshall not passss

As for the other two, I can't really think of any useful quirks to be
made with them. But to let you know, "?" matches either 0 or 1 of that
character, so "trolls?" would match "troll" and "trolls". "{m,n}"
matches between m and n characters. (If you leave out 'n', any number
of characters more than m will be matched.) So "s{2,4}" will match
"ss", "sss", and "ssss" and that's it.

Now with repeating expressions, we can do something like make EVERY
other WORD capitalized:

Regexp: "(\w+) (\w+)" Replace with: "upper(\1) \2"
You type: "this is pretty annoying i bet"
Result:
GD: THIS is PRETTY annoying I bet

The \1 matches the first word -- which has been matched because the
word is alphanumeric characters, repeated once or more -- and \2
matches the second word.

Another operator to use is the "|", which will match more than one set
of characters. For example, "black|red" will match "black" or
"red". If you want to match something in the middle of words, you have
to use parentheses: "(black|red) romance" will match "black romance"
and "red romance".

Finally, there are the "^" and "$" characters. Yes, we already did the
"^" character, but this is OUTSIDE of brackets, not INSIDE. "^"
matches the beginning of a message, and "$" matches the end of it. You
can use this to make more sophisticated prefix and suffix
behaviors. For example, if we have a quirk that adds "..." to the end
of all our messages, we can set it up so it doesn't do that if we put
punctuation [?!.] at the end. So:

Regexp: "([^?!.])$" Replace with: "\1..."

This will match the end of any message as long as it doesn't have
"?", "!", or "." at the end. Then it will replace it with whatever the
last character of the sentence was (remember we're replacing it, so we
have to put it back!) and add "..." at the end.

Careful with the beginning and ending replaces -- if you use more than
one, you may not get what you expect because they will ALL be applied,
one after the other! This is a bug in my opinion, that I plan to fix!

Random replace:

SMILIES
-------
Here's a list of smilies:
:rancorous:
:apple: 
:bathearst:
:cathearst:
:woeful:
:pleasant:
:blueghost:
:slimer:
:candycorn:
:cheer:
:duhjohn:
:datrump:
:facepalm:
:bonk:
:mspa:
:gun:
:cal:
:amazedfirman:
:amazed:
:chummy:
:cool:
:smooth:
:distraughtfirman
:distraught:
:insolent:
:bemused:
:3:
:mystified:
:pranky:
:tense:
:record:
:squiddle:
:tab:
:beetip:
:flipout:
:befuddled:
:pumpkin:
:trollcool: