💬 Client-Server Chat Application

A real-time client-server chat application built using C and TCP socket programming. The application enables a client to connect to a server and exchange messages reliably over a network.

🚀 Features

• 💬 Real-time bidirectional communication
• ⚡ Concurrent client handling using pthreads
• 🔒 Reliable data transmission over TCP/IP
• ⚠️ Error handling and graceful client disconnection
• 🖥️ Runs on Linux (Ubuntu)

🛠️ Technologies Used

• C (Socket Programming)
• TCP/IP Protocol
• POSIX Threads (pthreads)
• GCC (Compilation)
• GDB (Debugging)
• Linux (Ubuntu)

📦 Installation

• Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/SSwapnild31/chat-system-project.git

• change directory to chat-system-project

  cd chat-system-project

• Compile and create exe file called server

   cc server.c -o server

• Run the exe file with port number and ip address(127.0.0.1) - any ip & port no

   ./server 2000 127.0.0.1

• Compile and create exe file called client

   cc client.c -o client

• Run the exe file with port number and ip address same as server

• In different terminal

   ./client 2000 127.0.0.1

⚙️ How It Works

• Server creates a socket(), binds() to a port, and listen() for incoming connections
• Multiple clients connect using TCP sockets
• Server uses pthreads to handle multiple clients concurrently as well as send/receive messages at same time
• Messages are sent and received using send() and recv() system calls

🧠 Learnings

• Hands-on experience with TCP socket programming
• Understanding of client-server architecture
• Thread management using pthreads
• Working with Linux system calls
• Debugging using GDB

📌 Future Improvements

• Add private messaging between clients
• Implement authentication system
• Use select() or poll() for I/O multiplexing
• Add logging and message history
• Improve scalability using epoll (Linux)

📸 Screenshots/Output

• Server

• Client

🤝 Contributing

• Feel free to fork and improve the project!

📄 License

• This project is for learning purposes.