Morse Code Decoder (C++ Binary Tree Example)

This project demonstrates how binary trees work in C++ by using them to decode Morse code. Each letter in the Morse alphabet is stored in a binary tree where:

• a dot (·) means go left
• a dash (–) means go right

The root node starts empty, and each letter is inserted by following its Morse pattern through the tree. Decoding works by traversing from the root according to a dot/dash string.

This project is intended as a simple educational example for learning:

• dynamic memory and pointer-based tree structures
• binary tree traversal
• mapping codes to characters
• building and using a basic class in C++

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📁 Project Structure

.
├── Makefile
├── README.md
├── src
│   ├── main.cpp
│   ├── decoder.cpp
│   └── decoder.hpp
└── build/        (generated automatically)

• Node — represents a node in the Morse binary tree
• Decoder — builds the Morse tree and provides a decode() method
• main.cpp — command-line tool that decodes Morse code arguments

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🔧 Building

Run:

make

This compiles the source files into build/ and produces the executable:

./morse

To clean the project:

make clean

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▶️ Usage

The program expects each command-line argument (after the program name) to be a Morse code sequence made of . and -. It decodes each argument to a character and prints the resulting string.

Example

./morse ".-" "-..." "-.-."

Output:

ABC

If no Morse codes are provided, it prints a usage message and exits with a non-zero status:

./morse

Usage: ./morse <morse_code1> <morse_code2> ...

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🧠 How the Decoder Works

• Each Node contains:

  • char value — the decoded character (or '\0' if empty)
  • Node* dot — pointer to next node on .
  • Node* dash — pointer to next node on -

• The Decoder constructor builds the entire alphabet by inserting:

  A → .-
  B → -...
  C → -.-.
  ...
  

• The decode() function traverses the tree following the Morse pattern for each argument passed to ./morse.

Unknown or invalid patterns return '?'.

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📘 Educational Use

This project is excellent for demonstrating:

• pointer-based tree construction
• memory management and destructors
• class design (Node and Decoder)
• Makefile basics
• simple CLI tools and argument parsing