<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
is	O
an	O
Internet	B-Protocol
Relay	I-Protocol
Chat	I-Protocol
(	O
IRC	B-Protocol
)	O
client	O
integrated	O
into	O
GNU	B-Application
Emacs	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
written	O
in	O
Emacs	B-Operating_System
Lisp	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
includes	O
message	O
timestamping	O
,	O
automatic	O
channel	O
joining	O
,	O
flood	O
control	O
,	O
and	O
auto-completion	O
of	O
nicks	O
and	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
can	O
highlight	O
nicks	O
and	O
text	O
for	O
conversation	O
tracking	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
Notifications	O
include	O
channel	O
activity	O
on	O
the	O
Emacs	B-Application
mode-line	O
,	O
user	O
online	O
status	O
,	O
and	O
channel	O
tracking	O
of	O
hidden	O
conversations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
is	O
multi-lingual	O
,	O
and	O
provides	O
auto-script	O
loading	O
at	O
startup	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
has	O
a	O
modular	O
design	O
,	O
with	O
many	O
features	O
implemented	O
in	O
"	O
more	O
than	O
two	O
dozen	O
loadable	O
modules	O
"	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
default	O
setup	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
autoaway	O
,	O
fill	O
(	O
splits	O
long	O
lines	O
)	O
,	O
log	O
(	O
saves	O
chat	O
buffers	O
)	O
,	O
spelling	O
,	O
bbdb	O
,	O
which	O
connects	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
to	O
Emacs	B-Application
 '	O
BBDB	O
for	O
contact	O
management	O
,	O
and	O
replace	O
,	O
which	O
auto-replaces	O
given	O
text	O
in	O
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
supports	O
SSL/TLS	B-Protocol
for	O
encrypted	O
IRC	B-Protocol
communication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
project	O
,	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
was	O
first	O
developed	O
by	O
Alexander	O
L	O
.	O
Belikoff	O
and	O
Sergey	O
Berezin	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Berezin	O
wrote	O
that	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
was	O
"	O
originally	O
written	O
by	O
Alexander	O
L	O
.	O
Belikoff	O
,	O
then	O
I	O
improved	O
it	O
in	O
many	O
ways	O
and	O
promoted	O
to	O
version	O
2.0	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mario	O
Lang	O
wrote	O
that	O
as	O
of	O
2001	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
had	O
been	O
"	O
apparently	O
abandoned	O
"	O
,	O
so	O
he	O
and	O
Alexander	O
Schroeder	O
adopted	O
it	O
and	O
created	O
the	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
SourceForge	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
development	O
moved	O
from	O
SourceForge	B-Application
to	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
in	O
May	O
2006	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
and	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
was	O
officially	O
incorporated	O
into	O
Emacs	B-Application
release	O
22.1	O
on	O
June	O
3	O
,	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
development	O
now	O
takes	O
place	O
inside	O
the	O
Emacs	B-Application
source-code	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ERC	B-Operating_System
is	O
one	O
of	O
two	O
IRC	B-Protocol
clients	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
Emacs	B-Application
distribution	O
;	O
rcirc	B-Operating_System
is	O
the	O
other	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Circe	O
and	O
the	O
"	O
ascetic	O
"	O
ZenIRC	O
are	O
also	O
Emacs-based	O
IRC	B-Protocol
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
its	O
author	O
,	O
Circe	O
incorporates	O
ideas	O
from	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
such	O
as	O
its	O
activity	O
tracker	O
and	O
others	O
;	O
it	O
was	O
developed	O
as	O
ERC	B-Operating_System
became	O
"	O
difficult	O
to	O
debug	O
and	O
improve.	O
"	O
</s>
