This project is an implementation of a client-server architecture for counting printable characters in a file. It consists of a client program (pcc_client.c) and a server program (pcc_server.c). The project was developed as part of the Operating Systems course (0368-2162) at Tel Aviv University in semester 1/2021, taught by Prof. Adam Morrison.

• Assignment - pcc.pdf: The assignment document that provides instructions and guidelines for the project.
• pcc_client.c: The source code for the client program.
• pcc_server.c: The source code for the server program.
• README.md: This file, providing an overview of the project.

The Printable Characters Counting Server project aims to count the number of printable characters in a given file. It employs a client-server architecture, where the client sends the file's contents to the server, and the server counts the printable characters before returning the count to the client.

The project consists of two main components: the client and the server.

The client program, pcc_client.c, is responsible for establishing a connection with the server, sending the file's contents, and receiving the count of printable characters from the server.

The client program follows these steps:

1. Command line argument validation: The client checks if the correct number of command line arguments is passed.
2. Initialization: The client initializes the necessary variables, such as the IP address, server port, and file path.
3. Socket creation: The client creates a socket using the socket system call.
4. File opening: The specified file is opened for reading and writing.
5. Connection: The client establishes a connection with the server using the connect system call.
6. File size transmission: The client sends the size of the file (in network byte order) to the server using the send system call.
7. File content transmission: The client reads the file's contents, stores them in a buffer, and sends the buffer to the server using the send system call.
8. File closing: The client closes the file.
9. Result retrieval: The client receives the count of printable characters from the server using the recv system call.
10. Output: The client prints the count of printable characters to the console.
11. Cleanup: The client frees memory, closes the socket, and exits.

The server program, pcc_server.c, is responsible for receiving the file's contents from the client, counting the printable characters, and sending the count back to the client.

The server program follows these steps:

1. Initialization: The server initializes the necessary variables, such as the server port and file buffers.
2. Socket creation: The server creates a socket using the socket system call.
3. Binding: The server binds the socket to a specific port using the bind system call.
4. Listening: The server listens for incoming connections using the listen system call.
5. Accepting connections: The server accepts incoming connections from clients using the accept system call.
6. File size retrieval: The server receives the size of the file from the client using the recv system call.
7. File content retrieval: The server receives the file's contents from the client using the recv system call.
8. Printable characters counting: The server counts the number of printable characters in the received file contents.
9. Result transmission: The server sends the count of printable characters back to the client using the send system call.
10. Cleanup: The server closes the client connection, closes the socket, and exits.

1. Compile the client and server programs using a C compiler. For example:

   gcc pcc_client.c -o pcc_client
   gcc pcc_server.c -o pcc_server
   

2. Run the server program on the desired machine:

   ./pcc_server
   

3. Run the client program on a different machine, providing the required command line arguments:

   ./pcc_client <server_ip> <server_port> <file_path>
   

   Replace <server_ip> with the IP address of the machine running the server program, <server_port> with the port number used by the server, and <file_path> with the path to the file you want to count the printable characters in.