Programming Jabber

Chapter 2. Inside Jabber

Jabber has a number of features that are fundamental to its design philosophy. This design philosophy outlines Jabber as a much more flexible and generic solution to the original problem of connecting to disparate IM systems. These features give Jabber the potential to exist and act in the P2P (peer-to-peer, or person-to-person), A2P (application-to-person), A2A (application-to-application)—or in fact, any of the three-letter acronyms (TLAs) that have a 2 in the middle—spaces that have conversation at their core.

Understanding Jabber’s features is fundamental to seeing how it fits into the bigger picture. In this chapter, we explore these features and discover in what ways Jabber is not simply a cross-IM mechanism. In this exploration, you’ll get a feel for how capable Jabber is of being integrated into “conversational solutions.”

In Part II of the book, we’ll revisit each of these features and see how they can be used in many different programming scenarios.