Background
Chat applications have become an integral part of modern communication, enabling users to interact in real time over the internet. From simple text-based messaging to sophisticated multimedia sharing, chat applications serve various purposes, including personal communication, professional collaboration, and social networking.
Objective
The goal of this assignment is to implement a simple chat application using socket programming in C. You will create both a server that listens for incoming connections and a client that connects to the server to send and receive messages. This will help you understand socket programming, multi-threading, and basic client-server architecture.
Server Implementation
- Socket Creation: Implement a TCP server that creates a socket and binds it to a specified port (e.g., 8080).
- Listening for Connections: The server should listen for incoming client connections.
- The server should handle multiple clients concurrently.
- Message Handling:
- Receive messages from clients.
- Broadcast the received messages back to all clients.
- Print received messages to the server console.
- Robustness: Implement a way to gracefully handle shutting down clients (e.g., using Ctrl+C).
Client Implementation
- Socket Creation: Implement a client that creates a socket and connects to the server.
- User Input: The client should accept user input from the console.
- Message Sending: Send messages to the server.
- Receive Messages: Receive echoed messages from the server and display them in the client console.
- Extra Credit: Allow the user to exit the chat by typing a specific command (e.g., “Escape”).
Technical Specifications
- Programming Language: C
- Compilation: Provide clear instructions on how to compile and run both the server and client.
Simple Testing
- Start the Server:
- Compile and run the server code.
- The server should output a message indicating it is listening for connections.
- Start Multiple Clients:
- Compile and run the client code multiple times in different terminal windows.
- Each client should connect to the server and allow the user to start typing messages.
- Messages should be echoed back from the server and displayed on each client.
Grading Criteria
- Functionality (60%):
- Server accepts and handles multiple clients concurrently.
- Messages are correctly received and broadcasted to all connected clients.
- Code Quality (20%):
- Clear and organized code structure.
- Proper use of comments and meaningful variable names.
- Error handling is implemented for socket operations.
- Documentation (20%):
- Clear instructions on how to compile and run the application.
- A README file that describes the application and its functionality.
Code snippets
- tcp_client.c
- tcp_server.c
- Synchronous I/O Multiplexing using select
Grading
Post your report including source in Marmoset by the scheduled due date in the syllabus.
