<big><b>Introduction to the Manual</b></big>
<br />&nbsp;<br />

This document is designed to help you understand how the reference manual is
organized, how it can be used efficiently, and how to find the information
you need.

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Target Audience</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
This Toolkit reference manual is targeted at application developers who
would like to add SILC support into their application, and to create new
SILC based applications.  It is especially aimed at C and C++ programmers,
who would like to create SILC client applications, either based on command
line interface (CLI) or on graphical user interface (GUI).

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Overview</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
The SILC Toolkit Reference Manual has collected the essential information
needed by application developers.  The following guide and reference
information is included in this manual:

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Describing the documentation conventions<br />
<li>Describing the Toolkit design<br />
<li>Describing the SILC Protocol<br />
<li>Describing the programming conventions and idioms<br />
<li>Documenting the set of public APIs available for programmers<br />
<li>Describing the usage of various libraries

<br />&nbsp;<br />
You can download the latest SILC Toolkit from the 
<a href="http://silcnet.org">SILC Project Website</a>, which includes the
latest version of the reference manual. The Toolkit package includes the
full sources of the Toolkit, and includes several example applications and
piece of example codes.

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Using the Reference Manual</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
The API references are ogranized by libraries.  Each library will include
list of interfaces it provides.  Each of the interface in the library
provides list of public API items.  Each of the item in the list is a hyper
link that opens the detailed page describing the API item.  All API 
references are automatically generated from the sources and they have a clear
structural layout.  The references can provide cross links to other
references inside the specific interface or the specific library.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
The list of the library interface items can also include links to guides
that describe the use of a specific library or interface.  These are
intended as HOWTOs for programmers describing all aspects of the library
or interface.  They make the application development easier by also providing
small examples.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
All interfaces provided by the reference manual are public, and it does not
describe any internal or undocumented interfaces.  Since the reference
manual is automatically generated, it is constantly evolving.  It also
may omit some of the interfaces or libraries, that have not yet been
documented in the sources.

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Document Layout</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
The document layout provides quick links to libraries, interfaces and
specific API items by including list of links in the left and/or right
side of the page in the web browser.  These links can be used to directly
access the specific library, interface or API item.  The link lists may include
other links to guides, and reference links to outside the reference manual
as well.

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Reference Conventions</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
The structural layout of a API item describes the following information 
about the item:

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Type.  Types that can appear are Variable, Structure, Function.  A name
that appears without type is constant, usually #define, enum or typedef.
Usually the source code of the constants are appended to the reference.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Name.  Describes the name of the item.  All functions start with 
<b>silc_</b> prefix, macros start with <b>SILC_</b> prefix, and type names
and structures start with <b>Silc</b> prefix.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Synopsis.  Functions also describe the synopsis of the function.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Description.  Each of the item is described in detail of what the item
does and how it can be used.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Notes.  Optionally the item may describe additional notes to the
detailed description.  These usually describe various exeptions or other
important notes that the programmer should be aware of.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Example.  Optionally the item may include a piece of source code that
give short example of how the item may be used.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>See Also.  Optionally the item may include list of links to other
items, or some other references that relate to the described item.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
<li>Source.  Optionally the item may include the actual source code from
the header file where the documentation was automatically generated.

<br />&nbsp;<br />
Note that some of these informations are optional and not all API items
include all of these informations.

<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />
<b>Reference Example</b>

<br />&nbsp;<br />
Please refer to this link for short example of the API item reference 
layout: <a href="silcexample.html">SILC Example API</a>.

