TCP Chat

A robust TCP-based chat application implemented in OCaml that enables real-time communication between a server and client with message acknowledgment functionality.

Features

• Dual-Mode Operation

  • Server mode: Accepts incoming client connections
  • Client mode: Connects to a specified server via IP/hostname

• Real-Time Communication

  • Bidirectional messaging between server and client
  • Automatic message acknowledgment system
  • Round-trip time (RTT) measurement for each message

• Robust Architecture

  • Asynchronous I/O using Lwt
  • Clean shutdown handling
  • Protocol-agnostic message handling (supports any byte values/encodings)
  • Single client per server design

Prerequisites

• Linux operating system
• OCaml compiler
• OPAM (OCaml package manager)

Installation

# Install dependencies
make setup

# Build the application
make build

Usage

Starting the Server

For simplicity the server host is always localhost. And client will connect to it.

# Default port (8080)
make server

# Custom port
make server port=3000

Starting the Client

# Connect to server host=localhost and port=8080
make client

# Custom port
make client port=3000

Running Tests

make test