💬 Real‑Time Chat Application in Python

A simple client‑server chat application built from scratch in Python using the socket and threading modules. It supports two‑way, real‑time messaging in the terminal and demonstrates core networking and concurrency concepts.

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📝 Table of Contents

1. Features
2. Prerequisites
3. Getting Started
   • Clone the Repo
   • Run the Server
   • Run the Client
4. Project Structure
5. What I Learned
6. Future Improvements
7. Contributing
8. License

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🔥 Features

• 🔄 Two‑way real‑time chat over TCP (localhost)
• 🤖 Multithreading for simultaneous send/receive
• 🌐 Client‑Server architecture using Python’s socket API
• 🛡️ Graceful shutdown via the "exit" command
• 📚 Clean, well‑commented code for learning and extension

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⚙️ Prerequisites

• Python 3.7 or higher
• Basic familiarity with command‑line/terminal
• (Optional) Git for version control

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🚀 Getting Started

Clone the Repo

git clone https://github.com/Ansh-1019/chat_application.git
cd chat_application

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Run the server

Open terminal 1:

python server.py

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Run the client

Open terminal 2:

python client.py

📁 Project Structure

chat_application/
├── server.py           # Starts the chat server
├── client.py           # Connects as chat client
├── README.md           # Project overview and instructions
└── LICENSE             # MIT License

📚 What I Learned

• Fundamental socket programming (AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, bind, listen, accept, connect).

• Multithreading in Python and thread lifecycle (start(), join()).

• Handling I/O‑bound tasks concurrently despite the GIL.

• Graceful error handling (using try/except) in network code.

• Debugging real‑world issues: thread start/join errors, port conflicts, Git branch problems.

🚧 Future Improvements

• ✅ Multi‑client support (broadcast to all clients).

• ✅ Message history storage (e.g., in a file or database).

• ✅ GUI front‑end (Tkinter, PyQt, or web-based with Flask + WebSockets).

• ✅ Encryption using SSL/TLS.

• ✅ Dockerization for easy deployment.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome!

1.Fork the repository

2.Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/YourFeature)

3.Commit your changes (git commit -m "Add YourFeature")

4.Push to the branch (git push origin feature/YourFeature)

5.Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Made with ❤️ by Ansh Jaiswal

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