C Learning & DSA Toolkit

A beginner-friendly, educational open-source C repository designed for first-year computer science students to master C programming, fundamental data structures, algorithms, and practical Git/GitHub open-source workflows.

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🎯 Why This Project Exists

Learning C programming in your first year of university can sometimes feel isolated to simple, single-file classroom exercises like hello_world.c or lab1.c. In the real world, software engineering is collaborative, multi-file, and open-source.

C Learning & DSA Toolkit bridges this gap:

1. Learn Clean C & DSA: Explore clean, documented implementations of essential C utilities, arrays, strings, searching, sorting, and linear data structures (Stack, Queue, Linked List).
2. Learn Real Open Source: Practice the entire open-source journey—cloning repositories, exploring existing code, finding issues, writing unit tests, making git commits, opening pull requests, and participating in code reviews.

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📦 Features & Implemented Modules

Module	Description	Header	Source
Basic C Utilities	Swap, min/max, factorial (iterative & recursive), prime check, GCD, LCM, Fibonacci, number reverse, palindrome check	include/c_utils.h	src/c_utils.c
Array Operations	Print, min, max, sum, average, reverse, copy, remove duplicates, frequency count, rotate left, merge sorted, two-sum	include/array.h	src/array.c
String Utilities	Length, copy, compare, reverse, palindrome check, vowel/consonant count, word count, lowercase/uppercase, space removal, anagram check	include/string_utils.h	src/string_utils.c
Searching	Linear search, iterative binary search, recursive binary search	include/searching.h	src/searching.c
Sorting	Bubble sort, selection sort, insertion sort, merge sort, quick sort	include/sorting.h	src/sorting.c
Stack	Array-based LIFO stack with push, pop, peek, size, empty/full detection	include/stack.h	src/stack.c
Queue	Array-based circular FIFO queue with enqueue, dequeue, front, size	include/queue.h	src/queue.c
Linked List	Singly linked list with insert beginning/end, delete by value, search, count, display, memory cleanup	include/linked_list.h	src/linked_list.c

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💡 Quick Code Example

Here is how simple it is to use the toolkit in your own C code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "array.h"

int main(void) {
    int arr[] = {5, 2, 8, 1, 3};
    int size = 5;

    int max_val = array_max(arr, size);
    int min_val = array_min(arr, size);

    printf("Array: ");
    array_print(arr, size);
    printf("Maximum: %d\n", max_val);
    printf("Minimum: %d\n", min_val);

    return 0;
}

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Prerequisites

You only need a C compiler (gcc or clang), make, and git.

• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian): sudo apt update && sudo apt install build-essential git
• macOS: xcode-select --install
• Windows: Use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or MinGW / MSYS2.

2. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/c-learning-dsa-toolkit.git
cd c-learning-dsa-toolkit

3. Build & Run

# Compile the entire project
make

# Run the comprehensive demonstration
make run

# Run all 140+ automated unit tests
make test

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📂 Project Structure

This repository follows a clean, realistic standard open-source C layout:

c-learning-dsa-toolkit/
├── README.md                   # Project overview, features, and quickstart
├── LICENSE                     # MIT open-source license
├── CONTRIBUTING.md             # Beginner guide to git, branches, commits, PRs
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md          # Community standards and friendly environment
├── SECURITY.md                 # Security reporting guidelines
├── Makefile                    # Educational build script with make, run, test targets
├── .gitignore                  # Ignore binaries and temporary build objects
│
├── .github/                    # GitHub community templates
│   ├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
│   │   ├── bug_report.md       # Template for reporting bugs
│   │   └── feature_request.md  # Template for proposing new features
│   └── pull_request_template.md# Checklist for opening pull requests
│
├── docs/                       # In-depth educational documentation
│   ├── getting-started.md      # Toolchain setup and commands
│   ├── algorithms.md           # Time and space complexity reference table
│   └── contributing.md         # Open-source lifecycle and issue-based learning
│
├── include/                    # Header files (.h) containing function prototypes & docstrings
│   ├── c_utils.h
│   ├── array.h
│   ├── string_utils.h
│   ├── searching.h
│   ├── sorting.h
│   ├── stack.h
│   ├── queue.h
│   └── linked_list.h
│
├── src/                        # Source files (.c) containing function implementations
│   ├── c_utils.c
│   ├── array.c
│   ├── string_utils.c
│   ├── searching.c
│   ├── sorting.c
│   ├── stack.c
│   ├── queue.c
│   └── linked_list.c
│
├── examples/                   # Practical examples demonstrating toolkit usage
│   └── main.c
│
└── tests/                      # Automated unit test suite
    └── test.c

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🧪 Testing

Automated testing is fundamental to real-world software engineering. This repository includes a self-contained unit test suite in tests/test.c.

To run all tests:

make test

Sample output:

==================================================
   C Learning & DSA Toolkit - Test Suite
==================================================

Running c_utils tests...
Running array tests...
Running string_utils tests...
Running searching tests...
Running sorting tests...
Running stack tests...
Running queue tests...
Running linked_list tests...

==================================================
Test Results: 146 executed | 146 PASSED | 0 FAILED
ALL TESTS PASSED!
==================================================

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions from students of all experience levels!

Whether you want to:

• Fix a typo or improve documentation
• Add test cases for edge cases
• Implement a new sorting algorithm or data structure
• Improve error handling or function comments

Check out our Contributing Guide and the Issue-Based Learning Guide to get started with your first pull request!

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this code for personal, academic, or educational projects.