EPIC4

EPIC4 is a revolutionary software that has taken a new direction in ircII development. The software is no longer 100% backwards compatible with ircII, as compatibility sometimes comes with undesirable traits that need to be fixed. Instead, the developers of EPIC have made it a point to find these traits and remedy them, resulting in a sleek and efficient IRC client that gives users the best experience possible.

EPIC4 is derived directly from EPIC3, which has in its entirety the additions included in "plus" clients by Jeremy Nelson and "mod" clients by Jake Khuon. The software is maintained by the EPIC Software Labs (ESL), which comprises Jeremy Nelson, Jake Kuhon, Robert Chady, and a team of talented professionals.

Key features of EPIC4 include its safety, programmability, support for bots, and compliance with the irc protocol (RFC 1459). Unlike other clients, EPIC4 allows users more freedom to work within the protocol without arbitrary restrictions. The software also provides over 100 various functions and commands, allowing users to carry out operations that previously required slow and large scripts.

EPIC4 is fully ANSI-compliant, providing both "old" style (k&r) function headers and "new" style (ansi) function headers to give users more versatility. The software is also getting faster and smaller, with continual changes geared towards facilitating faster client functionalities while using fewer CPU cycles.

The latest release of EPIC4 includes new features such as the change of scary "ERROR --" messages to "INFO --" and the removal of hardcoded limits on size of status expandos. Additionally, the built-in history has been moved to a script implementation, and there's a new "loadformats" script that is implied on hooks.

Overall, EPIC4 is an excellent software with several impressive features that make it an ideal IRC client choice. Its efficiency, versatility, and continuous improvement make it an excellent choice for IRC enthusiasts looking for the best client in the market.