N-chat is a small educational group-chat application created with Express and Socket.IO. It demonstrates how a Node.js server can maintain real-time connections and broadcast events among browser clients. Users sign in with a display name that is stored in a cookie, and duplicate active names are rejected. The server tracks connected users and announces when someone enters or leaves the room. Messages can be sent publicly to everyone or privately to a selected online user. The browser interface updates the participant list, timestamps messages, and attempts to reconnect after a lost server connection. Because it relies on early Express and Socket.IO releases, the repository is best treated as a legacy learning example rather than a modern chat platform.
Features
- Real-time Socket.IO messaging
- Cookie-based display names
- Duplicate active-name prevention
- Online and offline presence updates
- Public and private conversations
- Timestamps and automatic reconnection