I was told its better to not have aliases/remotes that set variables onLoad or connect.. etc.. but to use hashtables and groups whats a easy way to do this?
Honestly, if you plan on doing casual scripting, and not too large of a script either will work. If you need something with a speedy responce time, then hash tables are your best bet.
Ex: Having a seen script that you would like to search through hundreds (if not thousands) of nicknames looking for a date when they were last seen--definalty a hash table. If you want something that is going to store a very minimul amount of data, just use variables.
Well this is just me, but I only use variables in loops (local).
If you need to store something, use .ini files, more organized I think. Unless you want speedy results then use hash tables, although I don't know why you'd need that fast of results for a chat program.