TCP Chat Application

This is a simple terminal-based TCP chat application built in C using POSIX socket programming on Linux. The goal was to explore low-level network communication and implement a basic chat system using the client-server model.

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🔧 What It Does

The project allows multiple clients to connect to a central server over TCP and chat with each other in real time. The server listens for incoming connections, handles each client, and broadcasts messages to all connected users.

It's a lightweight, console-based application — no GUI, just the good old terminal doing all the work.

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data is sent and received over a network, how to manage multiple connections, and how the client-server model works in real applications.

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⚙️ Technologies Used

• C (POSIX)
• Linux Terminal
• TCP Sockets
  • socket()
  • bind()
  • listen()
  • accept()
  • connect()
  • send()
  • recv()
  • close()

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🧭 How It Works

Server

• Binds to a specific port and listens for connections.
• Accepts incoming client connections using accept().
• For every connected client, it waits for messages and forwards them to other clients.

Client

• Connects to the server using an IP address and port number.
• Sends messages typed by the user.
• Displays messages received from other clients.

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🚀 How to Run It

Make sure you're on a Linux machine with GCC installed.

1. Compile and Run the Code

# Compile the server and client
gcc server.c -o server
gcc client.c -o client

# Run server on any port you choose
./server <port_number>

# Run client by connecting to the server's IP and the same port
./client <server_ip_address> <port_number>