A multithreaded TCP server that accepts N amount of clients.
The server accepts commands from a client, and uses a linked list to broadcast said command to other connected clients.
Each client connected to the server is ranked on a first come, first serve basis. Commands from higher ranked clients are executed by lower ranked clients. However, commands sent by a lower ranked client will not be executed by a client ranked higher than it.
Whenever a client disconnects, the remaining clients' ranks are reassigned where appropriate.
0 is the highest rank assigned to a client, N is the lowest ranked assigned to a client.
Some of the issues facing the project are;
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Buffering: When more that one client is connected, the command isn't immediately received by the sendee(s). A hack to go around this is to press the enter key in the sendee(s) client(s).
A client may also 'hang' after the enter key is pressed. To resolve this, send a command from another client.
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'Lost commands': Sending multiple commands in rapid succession results in only the first one being sent.
- Download and install Python 3.10.6
- Clone this repo to a directory of your choice
- Open up a terminal and cd to the project directory
- To run the server;
python3 server.py num_of_clients_to_support
- To run a client, open up a terminal, cd to the project directory and type
python3 client.py
Start up the server first before starting up the clients.
Upon starting the client, you should come across something similar to the image below.
To close the server, press ctrl+C. Ensure all clients are disconnected before doing this.
Upon starting up the client, you should come across something similar to the image below.
After writing a command, you should receive a message afterwards informing you that the command was sent.
If the client is receiving a command from a higher ranked client, you should receive a message saying the command is being executed and a second later, another message saying the command was executed.
if the client is receving a command from a lower ranked client, you should receive a message saying the client cannot execute a command from a lower ranked client.
To disconnect the client from the server, type exit
The following resources were used as learning tools during the creation of this project.