Top 7 Exciting C Projects on GitHub for Programmers [2023]

It is said that programming isn’t about what you know but about what you can figure out. In their zeal to explore the world of programming and learn everything there is to know of the art, programmers often tend to forget that being able to visualise solutions to problems is what makes you a great developer.

With the technological landscape constantly undergoing changes, problem-solving remains the one skill that allows you to navigate through advancements and, in the process, evolve. 

One way to strengthen your core as a programmer and build problem-solving skills is to start with C, often known as the mother of all programming languages. Even after 50 years since its introduction, C enjoys widespread application in almost every industry and is touted as the most suitable language for beginners. This really begs the question: what is C and why is it still so popular?

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Why C Programming remains so dominant?

American computer scientist, Dennis Ritchie introduced C in 1972 as a general-purpose, procedural programming language designed to write operating systems. It quickly became recognized as a powerful, robust language in the software development field, so much so that some of the most popular names today are associated with C. 

Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s OS X, and Symbian are developed using C. Further, Google’s Chromium, MySQL, Oracle and most of Adobe’s applications have also been developed using the C programming language. It also plays an integral role in our day-to-day lives, what with most of the smart gadgets we use today being driven by the technology that is programmed using C. 

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Although there are numerous reasons why C remains the backbone of all programming languages today and has an encompassing utility, let’s look at the top 3:

1. Flexibility

One of the main reasons why C is so widely applicable is because of the seamless flexibility it offers when it comes to memory management. Programmers enjoy full control over how they can allocate and deallocate memory, thus maximizing efficiency and contributing to better optimization. 

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2. Portability

C remains a highly portable assembly language. It is equipped with an extensive range of libraries that enhances its functionality and integration with almost every existing processor architecture. A number of other programming languages have their compilers, libraries, and interpreters primarily written in C. This allows faster computation and seamless accessibility. 

3. Simplicity

C is a mid-level language which essentially means it shares features of both high-level and low-level languages. This makes it simple to understand and easy to use. Further, since it is a structured programming language, it allows users to break down code into smaller, more readable fragments.

In this article, we will discuss some interesting C projects that you can find on GitHub. We hope these project ideas will help you improve your problem-solving skills, enhance your knowledge base and add to your learning experience. 

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Top C Projects in GitHub

1. Employee Management System

As evident from its title, the Employee Management System is designed to keep a record of the staff employed in a company. The objective of the EMS program is to improve efficiency in management by providing a comprehensive framework to simplify the process of record-keeping. 

All details, personal or professional, regarding an employee are maintained in a functional system that aims to overcome the problems manual record-keeping systems encounter. The well-designed, functional database of the program stores information in a manner that the data is easily accessible and modifiable. 

The Employee Management System is secure and reliable. It has invisible password typing and a dedicated login window. It is Password Protected and encrypted as a binary file. Furthermore, the database can be modified as per the user’s requirement i.e. records can easily be added, deleted or replaced. 

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2. Wipe Out Drive Contents

Currently only compatible with Linux, Nuke is a program that allows users to wipe out the entire contents of any given drive. Once it clears out the contents, it writes random bytes to ensure complete destruction of data. 

Working of the Code: 

Usage: nuke <drive 1> [drive 2] …

Destroy the contents of a drive/drives.

Options:

-z, -0, –zero

-n, –num-reps

-Y

 -h, –help

-V, –version

Examples:

nuke /dev/sdb

nuke /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

nuke -z /dev/sdb

nuke -n 2 /dev/sdb

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Nuke requires that the system have root privileges in order for the program to run. Apart from that, GCC, GNU Make and PyQt5 are required. 

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3. Mini Voting System

With the Mini Voting program, you have a system that allows a small or large group of people to cast their votes while the program keeps track of the count. Mini Voting System is rather flexible in that it lets the user perform an illegal deletion if needed. Every voting process is recorded, based on which the result is declared. 

Although it can be run on any C compiler, Turbo C++ is recommended. 

Working of the code:

The Header File with name ELECTION.H

Structure CAND: Use: Stores name and vote count

Functions:

candname: Use: Stores candidate info in structure as well as file

flcreate: Use: Creates ‘count’ no. of files initiates with ‘0’

isSpecial: Use: Check for blank PRN from file

(Note: PRN is unique roll no provided to each student in class.)

isAuthentic: Use: PRN Authentication

delFromfile: Use: Delete vote by PRN from given file

admin Use: 1.Election initiation 2.Election Continuation 3. Illegal vote deletion 4. Result Declaration

stu Use: All functions at Voter’s end

Admin Panel

Username: “Admin” Password: “SR@3111”

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4. Calendar App

The Calendar App is another simple project that can be developed using C. It can serve as your on-the-go calendar to perform various functions. 

You may find out any day simply by entering the date of the day. For example, if you wish to find out what day December 25, 2022, falls on, you need to enter the Day (25), Month (December) and Year (2022). The output of the program will be Friday.

The user can also add a note for a particular day to view later. Further, using the Calendar App, one can display the calendar of any month they wish to access.

Read: Python Project Ideas & Topics

5. 3D Creation Suite

Blender is a free, cross-platform, open source 3D creation suite that is compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It offers a unified pipeline for various 3D purposes including VFX, sculpting, simulation, motion tracking, video editing and animation, among others. Modeling, rendering, rigging and game creation are also possible using this program. 

It allows you to write customised specialization tools as per your requirements and is designed to serve developers, scriptors, designers and translators. 

The 3D creation suite is written primarily using C but also has traces of C++, Python and a few other languages. 

6. Identify Malware

If you are a malware researcher or your work revolves around identifying malwares, YARA may serve you well. It is a simple program capable of performing powerful and complex tasks. With YARA, you can identify malware and then classify them based on the patterns they display – textual or binary. A malware researcher can create a description for each malware they identify using strings and then use boolean expressions to ascertain its logic. 

For example, as per the code below, anytime the program comes across the description (i.e. the three strings specified), it will report them as silent_banker.

rule silent_banker : banker

{

    meta:

        description = “This is just an example”

        threat_level = 3

        in_the_wild = true

    strings:

        $a = {6A 40 68 00 30 00 00 6A 14 8D 91}

        $b = {8D 4D B0 2B C1 83 C0 27 99 6A 4E 59 F7 F9}

        $c = “UVODFRYSIHLNWPEJXQZAKCBGMT”

    condition:

        $a or $b or $c

}

In this manner, any number of rules can be created that include special operators, case-insensitive strings, etc. It also helps you to test and identify false positives.

YARA can be installed and run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. 

7. Access Data Structures

Commonly known as the Data Structures Server, Redis is an open source, in-memory database that allows you to access mutable data structures simply by entering a series of commands. It allows multiple processes to share an existing data structure and make modifications to it. 

Redis is quick and versatile because it stores the data structures on disk rather than server memory. Also, since they are data structures, memory allocation inside Redis is more efficient. It also allows replication, clustering and other features associated with databases.

The commands in question are simple and easy to remember. For example, the command to compile is:

% make 

A 32 bit Redis binary can be run using:

% make 32bit

After updating the source, if you wish to erase everything (jemalloc, lua, hiredis, linenoise) and begin from scratch, use:

make distclean

There are numerous such commands implementable by Redis. 

Redis is designed to run on Linux, OSX, and *BSD but can also be used with Solaris.

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Conclusion 

As host to the largest software development community in the world, GitHub has built an extensive repository of projects from programmers who regularly review and assess each other’s codes. And, since the platform supports all programming languages, there are a ton of C project ideas in GitHub for anyone to take inspiration from. 

The onus is on you, as the developer, to then think out of the box, come up with ingenious solutions using the existing resources, and contribute to the future of software. 

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