Projects to Boost Your C Skills

1. Text File Word Counter

Description: Build a program that reads a text file and counts words, lines, and characters.

Skills Covered:

• File I/O operations (fopen, fread)
• String handling
• Loop structures

Implementation Steps:

• Open file using fopen("input.txt", "r")
• Read character by character using fgetc
• Track spaces and newlines
• Display results using printf("Words: %d\n", wordCount)

Challenge: Implement alphabetical word sorting

Learning Outcome: Master basic file operations and memory allocation

2. Student Grade Manager

Description: Create a system to manage student records including names, IDs, and grades.

Skills Covered:

• Structures
• File I/O (fwrite, fread)
• Array manipulation

Implementation Steps:

struct Student {
    char name[50];
    int id;
    float grade;
};

• Write records using binary operations
• Read and process student data
• Calculate grade averages

Challenge: Implement ID-based search functionality

Learning Outcome: Strengthen understanding of structures and file operations

3. Simple Encryption Tool

Description: Develop a text file encryption tool using Caesar cipher.

Skills Covered:

• File I/O operations
• String manipulation
• Logical operations

Implementation Steps:

• Read input file using fgets
• Apply character shift: char c = (c - 'A' + 3) % 26 + 'A'
• Write encrypted content to output file

Challenge: Add decryption functionality

Learning Outcome: Enhance logical thinking and file handling skills

4. File Line Editor

• What: A tool to tweak lines in input.txt—pick a line by number, edit it, and save it back. Think of it as my Dead Poets Society script fixer—small changes, big control.
• Skills: File I/O with fgets to read lines and fputs to write ‘em, arrays to store text, and scanf for user picks.
• How It Works: Opens input.txt, slurps lines into a char lines[100][256] array, prints ‘em with numbers (e.g., “1: Hello”). User types “Edit line 3,” then new text—say, “Yo, bro”—and it overwrites line 3. Dumps the updated array back to the file. No mess, just edits.
• Stretch Goal: Add a “delete line” option—shift lines up, shrink the file like a pro.

5. Binary Score Keeper

• What: A leaderboard that saves player names and scores to scores.bin in binary, then pulls and shows the top 5. My Transformers high-score vibe—fast, compact, raw.
• Skills: Binary I/O with fwrite to save structs and fread to grab ‘em, plus a struct Score { char name[20]; int score; } to hold data.
• How It Works: User enters “Ranjika, 100”—stores it in a struct, writes it to scores.bin. Reads all entries into an array, bubble-sorts by score (high to low), prints top 5: “1. Ranjika - 100”. Keeps growing as you add scores.
• Stretch Goal: Append new scores without overwriting—build a real history, bro.

6. File Splitter

• What: Chops big.txt into smaller files like part1.txt, part2.txt—user says how many lines per file. My Check Yes Juliet beat splitter—slice it up clean.
• Skills: File I/O with fopen for multiple files and fgets to read lines, loops to count, scanf for user input.
• How It Works: Reads big.txt line-by-line—user picks “10 lines per file.” Every 10 lines, opens a new partX.txt (X increments), writes lines there. If 23 lines total, you get part1.txt (10), part2.txt (10), part3.txt (3). No overlap, pure cuts.
• Stretch Goal: Merge ‘em back—read parts, stitch into big.txt again.

7 . Interactive Quiz Maker

• What: A dual-mode app—create quiz questions and answers in questions.txt, then take the quiz and get a score. My Secret Life of Walter Mitty brain test—build it, play it.
• Skills: File I/O with fprintf to write Qs and As, fgets for input, structs like struct Quiz { char question[100]; char answer[50]; }.
• How It Works: Mode 1: “Add Q: What’s 2+2? A: 4”—saves to file as “Q: What’s 2+2? A: 4”. Mode 2: Reads file, asks each Q, takes your answer (fgets), checks with strcmp—right? +1 score. Ends with “Score: 8/10”. Simple, interactive, dope.
• Stretch Goal: Randomize Q order with rand()—keep it fresh, bro.

8. File Stats Analyzer

• What: Reads numbers from data.txt (one per line), finds min, max, average, and writes ‘em to stats.txt. My Freya Holmér math cruncher—numbers don’t lie.
• Skills: File I/O with fscanf to grab numbers, arrays to store ‘em, basic math for stats (sum / count).
• How It Works: Opens data.txt—say, “5\n90\n42”—reads into an array. Loops to find min (5), max (90), avg (45.67). Writes to stats.txt: “Min: 5, Max: 90, Avg: 45.67”. Clean, precise, useful.
• Stretch Goal: Calc median—sort the array, pick the middle. Extra Cavill flex.

9. Simple Logger

• What: Logs user messages with timestamps to log.txt, shows the last 10 entries. My Ghibli journal—track my grind, bro.
• Skills: File I/O with fprintf to write, time.h for timestamps (time_t, ctime), fgets for input.
• How It Works: User types “Fixed bug”—grabs time with time(&t), writes “[Mon Apr 7 12:34:56 2025] Fixed bug” to log.txt. Read mode: scans file, stores last 10 lines in array, prints ‘em—newest first. Keeps my story alive.
• Stretch Goal: Filter by date—e.g., “Show logs from April 5”—dig through like a pro.

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