Stuff

<?php

  set_time_limit(0);
  
  $address = 'irc.devcollective.com';
  $port = 6667;
  $nick = 'darksbot-0';
  $name = 'darksbot';
  $chan = "#devcol";
  
  $botCount = 5;
  $botSockets = array();
  for ($i=0; $i<$botSockets; $i++)
    $botSockets[$i] = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, SOL_TCP);
    
  foreach($botSockets as $socket)
  {
    socket_connect($socket, $address, $port);
    
    //  Add error checking here to see if connection was successful!
    socket_write($socket, "NICK ".$nick);
    socket_write($socket, "USER ".$name.' '.$name.' '.$address.' :'.$name);
  }

  while (true)
  {
    //  Duplicate the socket array to avoid losing the array of sockets.
    $read = $botSockets;
  
    //  A polling delay is REQUIRED
    $select = socket_select($read, $write=null, $exp=null, 0, 50);
    if (false === $select) {
      echo "socket_select() failed, reason: " .
        socket_strerror(socket_last_error()) . "\n";
    }
    else if ($select > 0) {
      foreach($read as $socket)
      {
        //  Execute your socket reading here
      }
    }
  }

?>