Simple IRC notify script, sic (http://tools.suckless.org/sic) inspired.

irc-notify.js

#!/usr/bin/env node
"use strict"

var connection = null,
	buffer = '',
	listeners = {};

var options = {
	host: 'chat.freenode.net',
	port: 6667,
	nick: process.env.USER + '-notify',
	channel: null,
	input: null,
	debug: false
};

function print(message, stream){
	if (!stream) stream = 'stdout';
	options.debug && process[stream].write(message + '\n');
}

function send(message){
	print('-> ' + message);
	connection && connection.write(message + '\r\n');
}

function exit(code){
	if (!code) code = 0;
	print('Exiting (' + code + ')');
	process.exit(code);
}

var irc = {

	send: function(line){
		if (line[0] != ':'){

			if (options.channel){
				send('PRIVMSG ' + options.channel + ' :' + line);
			} else {
				print('No channel to send to.', 'stderr');
			}

		} else if (line.length == 2 || line[2] == ' '){

			var command = line[1],
				args = line.substr(3);

			var firstSpace = args.indexOf(' '),
				firstArg = args.slice(0, firstSpace),
				nextArgs = args.slice(firstSpace + 1);

			switch (command){
				case 'm':
					send('PRIVMSG ' + firstArg + ' :' + nextArgs);
					break;

				case 'n':
					send('NOTICE ' + firstArg + ' :' + nextArgs);
					break;

				case 'l':
					send('PART ' + firstArg + ' :' + nextArgs);
					break;

				case 'j':
					send('JOIN ' + firstArg);
					options.channel = firstArg;
					break;

				case 's':
					options.channel = firstArg;
					break;

				case 'q':
					send('QUIT');
					exit(0);
					break;

				default:
					send(command + ' ' + args);
			}

		} else {

			send(line.substr(1));

		}
	},

	receive: function(data){
		buffer += data;

		var lines = buffer.split('\r\n');
		buffer = lines.pop();

		lines.forEach(function(line){
			if (line[0] == ':'){
				line = line.substr(1);
				var space = line.indexOf(' '),
					source = line.slice(0, space).replace(/!.*/, ''),
					message = line.slice(space + 1);
			} else {
				var source = '',
					message = line;
			}

			var command = message.replace(/ .*/, '');

			print(source + '> ' + message);
			irc.publish(command, message, source);
		});
	},

	publish: function(command, message, source){
		if (listeners[command]){
			listeners[command].forEach(function(listener){
				try {
					listener.call(listener, message, source);
				} catch (error) {
					print(error.name + ': ' + error.message, 'stderr');
				}
			});
		}
	},

	subscribe: function(command, listener){
		if (listeners[command]){
			listeners[command].push(listener);
		} else {
			listeners[command] = [listener];
		}
	},

	unsubscribe: function(command, listener){
		if (listeners[command]){
			var index = listeners[command].indexOf(listener);
			if (index >= 0){
				listeners[command].splice(index, 1);
			}
		}
	}

};

var args = process.argv.splice(2),
	arg;

parseArguments: while (args.length){
	arg = args.shift();

	switch (arg){
		case '-h':
			options.host = args.shift();
			break;

		case '-p':
			options.port = args.shift();
			break;

		case '-n':
			options.nick = args.shift();
			break;

		case '-c':
			options.channel = args.shift();
			break;

		case '-d':
			options.debug = true;
			break;

		default:
			options.input = arg + ' ' + args.join(' ');
			break parseArguments;
	}
}

if (!options.input) exit(0);

irc.subscribe('PING', function(message){
	send(message.replace(/^PING /, 'PONG '));
});

irc.subscribe('QUIT', function(){
	exit(0);
});

irc.subscribe('PRIVMSG', function(message, source){
	if (message.match(/^PRIVMSG\s+\S+\s+:\u0001VERSION\u0001$/)){
		send('NOTICE ' + source + ' :\u0001VERSION irc-notify.js\u0001')
	};
});

irc.subscribe('001', function(){
	if (options.channel){
		send('JOIN ' + options.channel);
	}

	options.input.split(';').forEach(function(message){
		irc.send(message.trim());
	});

	send('QUIT');
});

connection = require('net').createConnection(options.port, options.host, function(){

	send('NICK ' + options.nick);
	send('USER ' + options.nick + ' localhost ' + options.host + ' :' + options.nick);

});

connection.addListener('data', irc.receive);

Hi timwienk!
This script is well written.
Can you elaborate a bit?
Thank you!