'Simple parser'

def parse(self):

    (channelname, msg) = self.args.split(':', 1)
    self.history_start = None
    if msg.startswith('/history'):
        arg = msg[8:]
        try:
            self.history_start = (int(arg) if arg else 0)
        except ValueError:
            pass
    self.args = (channelname.strip(), msg.strip())
