Introduction to Programming in C

📘 Building a Small Project in C – Student Record System

Now that you've mastered C fundamentals, it's time to apply them in a real-world mini-project. In this chapter, we'll design a simple Student Record System where you can add, view, update, and delete student data.

🔶 Features to Include

• Add new student records
• Display all student records
• Search student by ID
• Update student data
• Delete a record
• Save/load data using file handling

🔧 Structures for Student Data

struct Student {
  int id;
  char name[50];
  float marks;
};

🛠 Sample Implementation

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

struct Student {
  int id;
  char name[50];
  float marks;
};

void addStudent(FILE *fp) {
  struct Student s;
  printf("Enter ID: "); scanf("%d", &s.id);
  printf("Enter Name: "); scanf(" %[^\n]", s.name);
  printf("Enter Marks: "); scanf("%f", &s.marks);

  fwrite(&s, sizeof(s), 1, fp);
  printf("✅ Student record added successfully!\n");
}

void displayStudents(FILE *fp) {
  struct Student s;
  rewind(fp);
  while (fread(&s, sizeof(s), 1, fp)) {
    printf("ID: %d | Name: %s | Marks: %.2f\n", s.id, s.name, s.marks);
  }
}

🔁 Add Menu System

int main() {
  FILE *fp;
  fp = fopen("students.dat", "ab+");
  if (!fp) {
    printf("File can't be opened!\n");
    return 1;
  }

  int choice;
  do {
    printf("\n1. Add Student\n2. View All\n0. Exit\nChoose: ");
    scanf("%d", &choice);
    switch (choice) {
      case 1: addStudent(fp); break;
      case 2: displayStudents(fp); break;
      case 0: printf("Exiting...\n"); break;
      default: printf("Invalid option!\n");
    }
  } while (choice != 0);

  fclose(fp);
  return 0;
}

📚 UdaanPath Example

This type of record system can be used at UdaanPath to maintain a list of students applying for coding scholarships or online test tracking.

📝 Enhancement Ideas

• Add update/delete functionality
• Allow search by name
• Sort students based on marks
• Export data as a readable .txt file

✅ Summary

• You used structures to hold student data
• Implemented file handling with fwrite() and fread()
• Created a working terminal-based menu system
• Congratulations! You’ve built your first C project 🎉

🚀 Coming Next

Next, we’ll learn how to use GDB for Debugging and organize code using Makefiles — vital skills for real-world C development.