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== How it works ==
TOC acted as a [[wrapper]] for the OSCAR protocol. In the grand scheme of things, the TOC server was nothing but an OSCAR client that happened to listen on a [[Internet socket|socket]], translating messages between the two protocols. Upon login, the TOC client specified an OSCAR login server (presumably either <tt>login.oscar.aol.com</tt> or <tt>login.icq.com</tt>) that the TOC server used on behalf of the client.
TOC used [[FLAP]] to encapsulate its messages just as OSCAR does, however, FLAP has been hacked in such a way that it can be implemented on the same port as an [[HTTP]] server. By default, the TOC server operated in HTTP mode, indistinguishable from a typical web server. If a connecting client, in place of an HTTP request, writes the string "<tt>FLAPON</tt>" followed by two [[CRLF]]s, TOC would switch gears and start reading FLAP messages. Upon getting a user's profile, the client was expected to re-connect to TOC and use it as an HTTP server, which would host the user's profile in [[HTML]].
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