E-commerce Platform with a Recommendation System

Objective:

• To understand C programming language and its various applications. To also explore C's customizability and flexibility.
• To leverage data structures and algorithms for efficient data processing and storage.

Compilation

gcc -o main main.c
./main 

Features

• Supports User Registration and Login
• Supports Product Information as Inventory Catalogue. Products can be added too.
• Browsing and Purchase History can be tracked
• Recommendation Engine to suggest personalized recommendations

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Code Flow

Main Functions

1. main():

   • Initializes the hash table.
   • Starts the main menu loop.

2. mainMenu():

   • Provides an interactive menu to navigate features like login, viewing products, and managing history.

3. User Functions:

   • addUser(): Adds a new user to the hash table.
   • getUserByID(): Retrieves a user by their userID.
   • userLogin(): Validates user credentials and logs in the user.

4. Product Functions:

   • addProduct(): Adds a new product to the hash table.
   • getProductByName(): Retrieves a product by name.
   • displayProductsByCategory(): Displays products in a specified category.

5. History Management:

   • recordBrowsingHistory(): Adds a product to the user's browsing history.
   • recordPurchaseHistory(): Adds a product to the user's purchase history.

6. Recommendation Engine

   • Products are linked using addProductRelationship() and the generateRecommendations() function integrates these strategies to create a ranked list of recommended products for each user

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How It Works

1. Initialization

• The program initializes a hash tables USER_TABLE_SIZE and PRODUCT_TABLE_SIZE to store user and product data.
• The initHashTable() function sets up the data structure.

2. Adding Users and Products and Login System

• The addUser() and addProduct() functions allow adding users and products to the hash table
• Users and Products are stored in the users array of the hash table and products array with ProductNode structures respectively.
• The Login System checks if the user is registered in the platform.

4. Product Browsing

• Users can search for products by name or category using the displayProduct() and displayProductsByCategory() functions.

5. Activity Tracking

• Browsing History: The program records products viewed by a user in their browsingHistory list.
• Purchase History: The program records purchased products in the user's purchaseHistory list.

6. Recommendation Engine

• Suggests products based on the user's purchase history.

7. Main Menu

The mainMenu() function provides a command-line interface which includes a catalogue of options for the users to choose from.

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