Wanting to know how email worked and then stumbling on it being mentioned next to the relevant RFCs was my first exposure! You could easily check pop3 mail over telnet, by sending all the commands by hand. HELO!
I then made my first email client, then an RFC later, and after browsing the web through telnet for a while, made my first web server!
There's something pure about text-based interfaces. No loading spinners, no JavaScript frameworks, no cookie banners. Just text.
I then made my first email client, then an RFC later, and after browsing the web through telnet for a while, made my first web server!
Missed a trick not being able to “telnet telnet.org” though. :-)
#set signature="cat ~/.signature && telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl 666 | tail -n3|"
> doom.w-graj.net 666
> Play Doom in the terminal (code and details)