DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A MULTILINGUAL CHAT APPLICATION
ABSTRACT
Instant messaging has brought an effective and efficient real-time, text-based communication to the Internet community. In addition, most instant messaging applications provide extra functions such as file transfer, contact lists, and the ability to have simultaneous conversations, which strengthens the reliance of wider sectors of users on these applications. In this project we explore the various attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging in conjunction with a language translator designed specifically for the three most common languages in Nigeria (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo). We show the efforts of organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in this regard, in addition to some proprietary solutions. We also shed some light on the different types of protocols that are used to implement instant messaging applications. Furthermore, the practical uses of instant messaging are highlighted alongside the benefits that will be reaped by organizations adopting the technology. We dedicate some parts of this project to review current and future research in the field. Various research trends and directions are discussed to show the impact of instant messaging on users, businesses and the decision making process.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The origin of the Internet begins with the invention and discovery of digital computers in the 1950s. Initial phenomenon of packet networking originated in several computer science laboratories in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. (Kim, Byung-Keun 2005) The US Department of Defence awarded contracts as early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the development of the ARPANET. The first message was sent over the ARPANET from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock’s laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Packet switching networks such as ARPANET, NPL network, CYCLADES, Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of communications protocols. Donald Davies first designed a packet-switched network at the National Physics Laboratory in the UK, which became a testbed for UK research for almost two decades. (Couldry, Nick 2012) The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, in which multiple separate networks could be joined into a network of networks.
Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) was introduced as the standard networking protocol on the ARPANET. In the early 1980s the NSF funded the establishment for national supercomputing centers at several universities, and provided interconnectivity in 1986 with the NSFNET project, which also created network access to the supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education organizations. Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the very late 1980s. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. Limited private connections to parts of the Internet by officially commercial entities emerged in several American cities by late 1989 and 1990, (Baran, Paul 1991) and the NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic.
