an "IM" program in LAN

[cyanglee]

My C++ teacher left us an assignment to write one one's own program---should be a little complex,and I decided to write a program like a simple MSN in LAN.

What pre-knowledge should I be equiped with?

Thanks a lot!

[firedraco]

Well, I think that might be a bit too complex...but...

1.) Sockets or something related to allow you to recieve/send data [Winsock/Berkley sockets]
2.) Most likely threading (unless this is a one-on-one chat) [Boost::thread]
3.) Win32 API (or similar in *nix) for the creation of the windows (unless you plan on using the Console) [MSDN WinAPI]