Simple Chat Application in C

Overview

This project is a basic client-server chat application implemented in C. It allows multiple clients to connect to a server and exchange messages in real-time. The application uses TCP/IP for network communication and supports multi-threading for handling concurrent message reception and user input.

Requirements

• Compiler: GCC or any compatible C compiler.
• Libraries: Standard C libraries (<pthread.h>, <netinet/in.h>, <poll.h>, <sys/socket.h>, etc.)

Setup and Building

Cloning the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/simple-chat-app.git
cd simple-chat-app

Building the Project

Use the provided Makefile to build the project. This will compile the source code and place the executables in the bin/ directory.

make

Cleaning Up

To clean the project by removing the compiled binaries and object files, use:

make clean

Running the Application

Starting the Server

Run the server program first to start listening for incoming client connections.

./bin/server

Starting the Client

After starting the server, you can run multiple instances of the client program to connect to the server.

./bin/client

The client will prompt you to enter your username. After entering your username, you can start sending and receiving messages.

Usage

• Server: Listens for incoming client connections, handles new connections, and broadcasts messages to all connected clients.
• Client: Connects to the server, allows the user to send and receive messages, and provides a basic terminal-based user interface.

License

This project is dedicated to the public domain. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software as you wish. For more information, please refer to http://unlicense.org/.

Author

Thomas Baumeister