<s>
The	O
TOC	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
,	O
or	O
Talk	B-Application
to	I-Application
OSCAR	I-Application
protocol	O
,	O
was	O
a	O
protocol	O
used	O
by	O
some	O
third-party	O
AOL	B-Protocol
Instant	I-Protocol
Messenger	I-Protocol
clients	O
and	O
several	O
clients	O
that	O
AOL	O
produced	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sometime	O
near	O
August	O
19	O
,	O
2005	O
,	O
AOL	O
discontinued	O
support	O
for	O
the	O
protocol	O
and	O
no	O
longer	O
uses	O
it	O
in	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
instant	O
messaging	O
clients	O
it	O
actively	O
maintains	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
its	O
Windows	O
and	O
Mac	O
clients	O
for	O
the	O
AOL	B-Protocol
Instant	I-Protocol
Messenger	I-Protocol
and	O
ICQ	B-Protocol
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
it	O
once	O
did	O
produce	O
several	O
of	O
its	O
own	O
TOC	O
clients	O
,	O
including	O
TiK	B-Language
and	O
TAC	B-Protocol
which	O
are	O
written	O
in	O
Tcl/Tk	B-Application
,	O
TNT	B-Protocol
which	O
is	O
written	O
in	O
Emacs	B-Operating_System
Lisp	I-Operating_System
,	O
all	O
of	O
which	O
are	O
open	O
source	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
Java	O
client	B-Protocol
originally	O
called	O
TIC	O
which	O
later	O
became	O
the	O
Quick	O
Buddy	O
web	O
applet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AOL	O
also	O
provided	O
the	O
TOC	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
specification	O
openly	O
to	O
developers	O
in	O
the	O
hopes	O
that	O
they	O
will	O
use	O
it	O
instead	O
of	O
the	O
proprietary	B-Application
OSCAR	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
they	O
use	O
themselves	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2012	O
,	O
AOL	O
turned	O
off	O
the	O
TOC2	B-Application
servers	O
and	O
it	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
possible	O
to	O
connect	O
to	O
AIM	O
using	O
this	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC	O
was	O
an	O
ASCII-based	O
protocol	O
,	O
while	O
OSCAR	B-Application
is	O
a	O
binary	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
TOC	O
contained	O
fewer	O
features	O
than	O
its	O
OSCAR	B-Application
counterpart	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OSCAR	B-Application
provides	O
such	O
functionality	O
as	O
buddy	B-Application
icons	I-Application
,	O
file	O
transfer	O
,	O
and	O
advertising	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC	O
acted	O
as	O
a	O
wrapper	O
for	O
the	O
OSCAR	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
grand	O
scheme	O
of	O
things	O
,	O
the	O
TOC	O
server	O
was	O
nothing	O
but	O
an	O
OSCAR	B-Application
client	B-Protocol
that	O
happened	O
to	O
listen	O
on	O
a	O
socket	B-Protocol
,	O
translating	O
messages	O
between	O
the	O
two	O
protocols	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Upon	O
login	O
,	O
the	O
TOC	O
client	B-Protocol
specified	O
an	O
OSCAR	B-Application
login	O
server	O
(	O
presumably	O
either	O
or	O
)	O
that	O
the	O
TOC	O
server	O
used	O
on	O
behalf	O
of	O
the	O
client	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC	O
used	O
FLAP	B-Application
to	O
encapsulate	O
its	O
messages	O
just	O
as	O
OSCAR	B-Application
does	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
FLAP	B-Application
has	O
been	O
hacked	O
in	O
such	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
implemented	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
port	O
as	O
an	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
default	O
,	O
the	O
TOC	O
server	O
operated	O
in	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
mode	O
,	O
indistinguishable	O
from	O
a	O
typical	O
web	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
a	O
connecting	O
client	B-Protocol
,	O
in	O
place	O
of	O
an	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
request	O
,	O
writes	O
the	O
string	O
""	O
followed	O
by	O
two	O
CRLFs	O
,	O
TOC	O
would	O
switch	O
gears	O
and	O
start	O
reading	O
FLAP	B-Application
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Upon	O
getting	O
a	O
user	O
's	O
profile	O
,	O
the	O
client	B-Protocol
was	O
expected	O
to	O
re-connect	O
to	O
TOC	O
and	O
use	O
it	O
as	O
an	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
server	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
host	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
profile	O
in	O
HTML	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
connected	O
,	O
two	O
basic	O
message	O
formats	O
for	O
communications	O
inside	O
of	O
FLAP	B-Application
existed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Client-to-server	O
messages	O
were	O
sent	O
in	O
a	O
format	O
resembling	O
a	O
Unix-style	O
command	O
line	O
:	O
commands	O
with	O
whitespace-separated	O
arguments	O
,	O
quoting	O
and	O
backslash	O
escape	O
sequences	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Server-to-client	O
messages	O
were	O
much	O
simpler	O
:	O
they	O
were	O
sent	O
as	O
colon-separated	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
strings	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
similar	O
to	O
many	O
Unix	B-Application
config	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
quite	O
easy	O
to	O
write	O
a	O
client	B-Protocol
,	O
as	O
the	O
incoming	O
messages	O
were	O
very	O
easy	O
to	O
parse	O
,	O
and	O
outgoing	O
commands	O
were	O
easy	O
to	O
generate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
OSCAR	B-Application
,	O
which	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
binary	O
representation	O
of	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
more	O
difficult	O
to	O
understand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
TOC2	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
is	O
an	O
updated	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
TOC	B-Application
protocol	I-Application
,	O
or	O
"	O
Talk	B-Application
to	I-Application
OSCAR	I-Application
"	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
existence	O
was	O
never	O
documented	O
by	O
AOL	O
and	O
it	O
is	O
only	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
few	O
AOL	B-Protocol
Instant	I-Protocol
Messenger	I-Protocol
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
clients	O
are	O
beginning	O
to	O
offer	O
plugins	O
for	O
TOC2	B-Application
in	O
light	O
of	O
AOL	O
's	O
recent	O
shutdown	O
of	O
their	O
TOC	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
its	O
predecessor	O
,	O
TOC2	B-Application
is	O
an	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
protocol	I-Protocol
and	O
lacks	O
some	O
features	O
of	O
OSCAR	B-Application
,	O
but	O
unlike	O
TOC	O
,	O
TOC2	B-Application
is	O
known	O
to	O
support	O
buddy	B-Application
icons	I-Application
and	O
receiving	O
file	O
transfers	O
(	O
not	O
sending	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC2	B-Application
operates	O
in	O
essentially	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
as	O
TOC	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
wrapper	O
for	O
OSCAR	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Porting	O
code	O
from	O
TOC	O
to	O
TOC2	B-Application
is	O
remarkably	O
easy	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
similarities	O
between	O
TOC1.0	O
and	O
TOC2.0	O
,	O
they	O
are	O
better	O
defined	O
by	O
their	O
differences	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
there	O
are	O
only	O
a	O
few	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
has	O
been	O
corrected	O
in	O
TOC2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC2.0	O
corrects	O
this	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Permitting	O
and	O
denying	O
have	O
been	O
revamped	O
and	O
are	O
much	O
easier	O
and	O
full-featured	O
in	O
TOC2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aside	O
from	O
this	O
the	O
only	O
changes	O
from	O
TOC	O
are	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
a	O
'	O
2	O
 '	O
was	O
added	O
on	O
most	O
commands	O
both	O
CLIENT->SERVER	O
and	O
vice	O
versa	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TOC2	B-Application
also	O
limits	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
ScreenNames	O
that	O
can	O
log	O
in	O
from	O
a	O
single	O
IP	O
address	O
(	O
10	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
