For this assignment you will be applying both network and operating systems programming techniques.
Your overall task is to implement a very simplified multi-threaded Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server.
I have provided you with a test program that you will use to track your progress and guide your work. I will use the same test program to assess your submissions, so you can have good confidence prior to final submission as to the range in which your assessment will be graded.
I say range, because the technical component of this assignment is worth 84%, with the remaining 16% being for style and readability of your program. This will cover aspects such as a comprehendable architecture (which will of course help you as you write it anyway), appropriate comments, clarity, brevity, and use of efficient and appropriate algorithms and techniques.
Comments should address why the code it documents is necessary, i.e., what would go wrong if it wasn't there, rather than what the code does -- after all, anyone can read the code to see what it does, but understanding WHY it is there is not so trivial.
In other words, to get an HD your program must be both machine and human readable.
I recommend that you start with the mostly empty sample.c that I provide, and use this as the basis for your program. Compile and run this through the test program, with something like:
make && ./test ./sample
And pay attention to what it outputs. The FAIL messages will tell you the next thing that doesn't work in your program. Fix that, then move on to the next one. If any are too hard, then skip them and work on another.
I have supplied you with the source code for the test program, and you are welcome to look at that to get a better idea of what is being tested. You can also use it as a reference for many of the network programming tasks you will need. IF YOU USE ANY OF THE TEST PROGRAM IN YOUR OWN you must copy the copyright notice from the top of the file, adjust it appropriately to include your name in the copyright list. FAILURE TO ATTRIBUTE CODE DRAWN FROM TEST.C WILL RESULT IN 0, and will be treated as any other form of academic misconduct. Ask me if you are unsure with how to comply with this requirement.
You should do your software development using the CSEM UNIX systems. YOu can install PUTTY.EXE on Windows to log in remotely from home, or you can login in the lab. ALL SUPPORT MATERIALS ARE BASED ON DEVELOPING YOUR SOFTWARE THIS WAY. Every year a few students ignore this advice and try to use some Windows-based software development environment, and it almost invariably leads to more hurt and pain, especially when they submit their solution only to find that IT DOESN'T WORK ON THE UNIX SYSTEMS, WHICH IS WHERE I WILL BE MARKING, AND THEY GET ZERO.
The workflow for software development is to edit your source files using any normal UNIX text editor, e.g., pico, emacs or vi, and then compile and test the programme using the commands I described above.
EDITING THE SOURCE FILES USING MICROSOFT WINDOWS BASED EDITORS IS A RECIPE FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING because they put the wrong end-of-line markers in the files, which can create all sorts of subtle (and not so subtle) problems.
If you have a Mac, it is relatively safe to develop locally on that using Aquamacs as the editor and to compile your program (press escape then x, then type the word compile and hit enter, and it will compile in emacs, and you will be able to click on errors to jump to the relevant lines of source code) and using Terminal to run the program. The same applies to Linux, FreeBSD and probably to other UNIX-based environments. HOWEVER ALWAYS TEST ON THE CSEM UNIX SYSTEMS BEFORE SUBMITTING TO AVOID UNPLEASANT SURPRISES, LIKE GETTING ZERO IF YOUR PROGRAM DOESN'T WORK ON THERE.
You are allowed to program in a language other than C if you wish, provided that you still use similar networking and concurrency primitives, and that your submission still works when run with the test program on the CSEM UNIX environment. I recommend against using Java, since that will rob you of the opportunity to learn basic C programming, which you will need if you go on to SE3 next year in any case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat
Parsing IRC commands and example IRC sessions:
http://calebdelnay.com/blog/2010/11/parsing-the-irc-message-format-as-a-client http://www.anta.net/misc/telnet-troubleshooting/irc.shtml
The complete RFC for IRC (which is way more detailed than you need, but may prove helpful):
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2812
pthreads functions:
http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/7908799/xsh/pthread.h.html
You will need pthread_create(), pthread_exit() and the pthread_rwlock functions.
http://cursuri.cs.pub.ro/~apc/2003/resources/pthreads/uguide/users-86.htm http://www.amparo.net/ce155/thread-ex.html
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=C+programming+tutorial&oq=C+programming+tutorial
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=C+programming+tutorial&oq=C+programming+tutorial