Hive (42 School Network) core curriculum project

Minitalk

Minitalk is a C programming project that uses Unix signals to create a basic messaging system. It allows two programs, a "client" and a "server," to communicate by sending messages encoded as signals.

Core topics:

1. Signals in Unix systems.
   • Using functions from <signal.h>: sigemptyset(), sigaddset(), sigaction(), getpid(), and kill().
   • Working with pause() and usleep() for handling signals effectively.
2. Bitwise operations.
   • Encoding and decoding integers or characters into binary for signal-based messaging.
3. Dynamic memory management.
   • Using malloc() and free() to create a dynamic buffer.
   • Implementing a custom version of realloc() for efficient memory management.
4. Error handling.
   • Designing an error-handling system that uses exit() with unique error codes for various potential issues.
   • Ensures the program is easier to debug.

Project structure:

hive-core-minitalk/
│
├── ft-printf/					# Static library for custom ft_printf()
│   ├── ft_printf.c
│   ├── ft_printf.h
│   ├── ...
│   └── Makefile
│
├── include/minitalk_utils.h	# Header files
├── src/
│   ├── minitalk-utils/			# Support functions
│   │   ├── ft_realloc.c
│   │   ├── kill_safe.c
│   │   └── sigaction_init.c
│   ├── client.c				# Client programme
│   └── server.c				# Server programme
│
├── test/
│   └── minitalk_test.sh		# Bash script for testuing
│
├── Makefile					# Building project tool
├── README.md					# Instractions
├── .gitignore
└── LICENSE

Where to start

1. Clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/ipersids/hive-core-minitalk.git
cd hive-core-minitalk

2. Build the programme.
   Use the Makefile to compile the source files, the libftprintf static library, and create the "server" and "client" executables.

make all

Other commands:

• make all will build static library and two programmes ./server and ./client.
• make clean will remove all .o' files from the directory.
• make fclean will remove all .o' and executable files.
• make re will trigger the fclean command and rebuild the mandatory functions.

3. Run the Server.
   Execute the ./server file in the terminal. It will display the PID number, which is required to use the ./client program.

4. Run the Client. Open a second terminal and run the ./client program as follows:

./client <PID> <message>
# Example: ./client 89456 Hello!

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Developed by Julia Persidskaia.
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