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Like all assignments, you will complete this assignment via GitHub. See the submission instructions for how to get the starter code and how to submit this assignment.

You may want to use valgrind to test your work for memory safety. (Mac users may want to install this with brew install valgrind.) If you do so, it will be helpful to suppress memory errors caused by the check framework. To suppress these errors, download the check.supp file and pass the --suppressions=check.supp argument to valgrind. So, if your executable is check_dlist, then you would call valgrind --suppressions=check.supp ./check_dlist on the command line (with check.supp in the same folder as check_dlist).

You will likely also want to write a Makefile as part of this assignment.

The full description of this assignment took place during class 19. This file contains only descriptions of the parts you have to write. As always, feel free to write helper functions.

The data files you will work with are here; download actors.list.gz and actresses.list.gz. Decompress them with gunzip. (We will not need any other files.)

  1. (20 pts) Finish writing read_cast_member (in imdb_functions.c). There are two places you need to write more code, as described in the file. Once this function is finished, you should be able to read in a file of cast members, with just a few small tweaks in your main() function.

  2. (20 pts) Write find_cast_member (in imdb_functions.c) to use binary search to find a cast member in an array.

  3. (5 pts) Write code in main (in imdb.c) to enable the user to look up and find a cast member from all_cast (using your find_cast_member function). When reading in a cast member name from the user, remember that you need to read in spaces; scanf("%s", ...) stops at the first space. Instead, I recommend fgets, but be aware that the function includes the newline in the string it reads in. Before searching, remove this newline.

  4. (20 pts) Write merge_arrays (in imdb_functions.c). This will allow you to read in multiple cast member files (e.g., actors and actresses). Add a little code to main to arrange a call to merge_arrays. After this step is complete, you should be able to look up both actors and actresses.

  5. (15 flex pts – optional) Although the minimum interface allows solely looking up cast members, you may optionally add an interface that allows the user to navigate the graph. One suggested way to do this is to start at a certain cast member or movie. (Perhaps the choice is fixed; e.g. Kevin Bacon, or perhaps the user can choose the starting point.) Then, list all movies/cast members associated with the current one, allowing the user to pick one by number. Repeat. Offer the user a way to quit, and some instructions of how to play.

  6. (20 pts) Write code at the end of main that frees all memory used.

Feel free to go above and beyond the basics here. If you do, make sure to document your work prominently (e.g., in main or, even better, in instructions printed for the user).