[Techtalk] Possibly OT - learning to code using an email noti fication program

[Davis, Jennifer]

Thanks Jenn for the feedback.  I guess there are things I left out.

On Tue, 2002-03-26 at 03:47, Davis, Jennifer wrote:
> Hi:
> 
> 	This may be more the subject of a forum specifically regarding
> programming, but alas, here we go. 

>  Techtalk is for programming too. It's just usually a sysadminny place.

Excellent!  

> I am trying to develop a program that
> will show the last few messages in my mailbox.  If I see something I want
to
> read, I just click on it, and my webmail opens up.  It is something I want
> to use at work.  Port 110 on the office network is blocked, so I was
> thinking of using the telnet port. 

> Don't use telnet, use ssh. If you need me to explain why, ask.

Unless I can figure out some way to run ssh on an open port, I am stuck.
They blocked the ssh port too.  Does anyone know a windows program that will
reveal which outbound ports are open?

However..

> The quick-and-nasty, el-cheapo, get-a-proof-of-concept thing would be to
> write a script that opens ssh and does a 'tail /var/spool/mail/foo'. 

> That'll prove you can get in and open the mailbox. After that, it's just
> a matter of reading the mailbox using whatever mail-reading libraries
> your language of choice has, retrieving the messages of choice, and
> presenting them whatever way you choose - again using the libraries.

> Without knowing what language and what libraries you have available, I
> can't be more precise.

My hope was to use perl or C++ as those are the ones I am learning
currently.  As far as libraries go, I haven't got a clue.  I guess I was
just going to use the ones that come with the distro, slack 8.  I guess I
forgot to mention, I am just learning.  I can program in Pascal or Basic,
but that's if you want a tic-tac-toe game.  Recently, I started to learn
PHP, though that is mostly from copying other's code and manipulate it for
my purposes.

Thinking she just may be over her head...
Jenn