🎬 StreamFlix - C Streaming Platform

A comprehensive command-line streaming platform simulation built in C, featuring complete user management, content tracking, viewing analytics, and persistent data storage through CSV files.

Academic Project | Developed as part of Computer Engineering studies to demonstrate proficiency in systems programming, modular design patterns, and data structure implementation in C.

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✨ Key Features

🎥 Content Management System

• Complete CRUD operations for movies and TV shows
• Dynamic content catalog with metadata support
• Genre categorization and content filtering
• Efficient search and listing capabilities

👥 User Management

• Secure user registration and authentication
• Personal viewing history tracking
• User preference management
• Session management system

📊 Analytics & Reporting

• Real-time viewing statistics
• Most-watched content analysis
• User engagement metrics
• Personalized viewing recommendations
• Detailed activity reports

💾 Data Persistence

• CSV-based data storage system
• Automatic file generation and management
• Data integrity validation
• Cross-session data persistence

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🏗️ Technical Architecture

Modular Design Philosophy

The project follows a clean, modular architecture with separation of concerns:

📁 Project Structure
├── 📄 main.c              # Application entry point and main loop
├── 📄 csvutil.c/.h        # CSV file I/O operations
├── 📄 content.c/.h        # Content management logic
├── 📄 user.c/.h           # User authentication and management
├── 📄 list.c/.h           # Dynamic data structure implementations
├── 📄 recommendation.c/.h  # Content recommendation algorithms
├── 📄 report.c/.h         # Analytics and reporting system
├── 📄 test.c              # Unit testing framework
├── 📁 data/               # CSV data files
└── 📄 Makefile            # Build automation

Core Technologies

• Language: C (C99 standard)
• Compiler: GCC with strict warning flags
• Build System: Make
• Data Format: CSV for persistence
• Memory Management: Manual allocation/deallocation
• Data Structures: Dynamic arrays, linked lists

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

# Required tools
- GCC compiler (v4.9+)
- Make build system
- Terminal/Command line interface

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MJ-Sarabando/playingwith_C_streaming.git
cd playingwith_C_streaming

# Build the application
make

# Run the streaming platform
./streamflix

# Run test suite (optional)
make test

Sample Data Files

The application automatically manages these CSV files:

• 📁 data/contents.csv - Movie and TV show catalog
• 📁 data/users.csv - User accounts and credentials
• 📁 data/viewing_history.csv - User viewing records and timestamps

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🧪 Testing & Quality Assurance

Test Coverage

• Unit tests for all core modules
• Data validation testing
• File I/O error handling
• Memory leak detection

# Run comprehensive test suite
make test

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

Code Quality Standards

• Strict compiler warnings (-Wall -Wextra -pedantic)
• C99 standard compliance
• Consistent coding style
• Comprehensive error handling

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💡 Technical Highlights

Advanced C Programming Concepts

• Dynamic Memory Management: Efficient allocation and deallocation patterns
• File I/O Operations: Robust CSV parsing and writing with error handling
• Data Structures: Implementation of dynamic arrays and linked structures
• Modular Programming: Clean separation of concerns across multiple modules
• Function Pointers: Used for flexible callback implementations
• String Manipulation: Advanced string processing for data parsing

System Design Patterns

• Model-View-Controller: Separation of data, logic, and presentation
• Factory Pattern: Dynamic object creation for content and users
• Observer Pattern: Event-driven updates for viewing history
• Strategy Pattern: Flexible recommendation algorithms

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📈 Learning Outcomes

This project demonstrates proficiency in:

• ✅ Systems Programming: Low-level memory management and file operations
• ✅ Software Architecture: Modular design and code organization
• ✅ Data Structures: Implementation and manipulation of complex data types
• ✅ Algorithm Design: Search, sort, and recommendation algorithms
• ✅ File Systems: CSV parsing, validation, and persistence
• ✅ Testing: Unit testing and quality assurance practices
• ✅ Build Systems: Makefile creation and dependency management

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🔧 Build Configuration

The project uses a sophisticated Makefile with multiple targets:

# Production build
make                # Compile main application

# Development tools
make test          # Build and run test suite
make clean         # Remove build artifacts

# Compiler flags ensure code quality
CFLAGS = -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -std=c99

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🎯 Future Enhancements

Potential extensions to demonstrate additional skills:

• 🔐 Enhanced Security: User password hashing and session tokens
• 🌐 Network Support: TCP/IP client-server architecture
• 🗄️ Database Integration: SQLite or MySQL backend
• 🎨 GUI Interface: GTK+ or ncurses-based interface
• ⚡ Performance: Multi-threading for concurrent users
• 📱 API Development: RESTful API for mobile client support

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👩‍💻 About the Developer

This project showcases my passion for systems programming and demonstrates my ability to build complete, production-quality applications in C. It reflects my understanding of:

• Computer Science fundamentals
• Software engineering best practices
• System-level programming concepts
• Professional development workflows

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🤝 Connect & Collaborate

I'm always interested in discussing C programming, systems development, and software engineering:

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📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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Built with ❤️ and lots of C programming

⭐ If you find this project interesting, please consider giving it a star! ⭐