ZeroC's chat demo gives you the opportunity to "kick the tires" of a real Ice application. Choose one of the web clients to interact with a server hosted by ZeroC, or visit our download page for other options.
Start chatting now!
| PHP Client | Silverlight Client |
Introduction
ZeroC provides a sample application that allows users to connect to a chat room and exchange messages with other users. This application presents a number of interesting design challenges that you might face when developing a distributed application, therefore it makes an excellent case study.
The application features a server implemented in C++ and clients written in various languages, including graphical programs in C# and Java, console programs in C++, and web-based clients in PHP and Silverlight. The various components of the application are shown in the diagram below. We will explore these components in further detail elsewhere on these pages.
ZeroC hosts a public chat server that you can use in a number of ways:
- Chat directly from your web browser using the PHP or Silverlight clients
- Download precompiled versions of the Java or .NET graphical clients
- Write your own client using any programming language that Ice supports
Click on the link below to continue reading our overview of the chat application. If you are interested in a more detailed discussion, please refer to the in-depth technical articles.
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