How to send an IM in C or C++ on Windows

Specifically I am talking about using AIM and sending instant messages to an existing AIM screename. How would I accomplish this? I am trying to do it the simplest way possible -efficiency is not that important.

I thought mayb开发者_JAVA技巧e all I would have to do is open a socket connections some how but I am probably wrong.

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I would use libpurple. It's a multi-platform C library that supports many IM services, including AIM.

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Check out the source for GAIM/Pidgin, which runs on a variety of platforms including windows. It uses a modified version of libfaim.