UserData

Note For Developers:

start with: UserProfile.h and UserProfile.C userMain.c is for testing ONLY.

This repository contains logic (functions) and elements (structs) that can help when needing to deal with user information.

Instead of producing a binary, it should be compiled into position-independant code via. a ".so" file for use with any number of programs via. dynamic linking.

After enough enough time has been dedicated to debug I will include proper instructions for compile, possibly make/install. Any help with efficency in this regard would be appreciated.

How to use this library.

This user data library can be used to handle users, their status and specific instances of thir status through linked lists of linked lists.

Although the library is called user data, there is no reason that it has to be a user specifically and can technically be used to track the status of any data.

This library specifically provides the predefined data structures and functions that provide the above described functionality. As a dev who chooses to use this library you only need to create your starting point ( which should be migrated to an initialize routine and hanled in a way that is more invisible to the user.

After which creating users, status and instances of those status's is done though calling the predifed functions and passing the data to them.

This piece of software is only in it's infancy and still needs considerable testing to determine best course-of-action.

Here is an example of how functions are called to create a "user":

Which internally looks like the this:

going a level deeper:

Note: at this level it's more for development of this libray then anything the user/dev using this library would have and interest in.

Note: In the visualization folder there are more images that show visually how data is handled and which routines are called to create said data.

It is still recommeded that you look at userProfile.h and understand the data structures themselves as they are in the source file.

Things I would like to add to this software:

// TODO:

0.
   Update THIS readme to detail how this library
   is supposed to be used. As of now this readme
   is more about waht needs to be done.

	The TODO elements in this file  should
	be moved to the todo.txt file; Saving
	this file for usage information that
	includes the visualizations in the
	visualizations file to help describe
	the usages.	

   See the above *how to use this library.*

1.
   Need functions to free all the pointers in
   all the nodes that have memory allocated to
   them internally in the linked lists.

   Create function to find specific nodes and or
   walk through the lists.

2.
   Disk I/O functions to save the data between program
   runs. This should eventually implement atomicity.

3.
   Add memory alignment and other efficencies to 
   wrapper function(s) in format.c source file.
   
4.
   Add openssl library for creating hashes in the nodes
   and for use in the validation functions.

5.
   Finish function definitions in userInteraction
   module. Then define their proper usage in
   docmentation. 

6.
   Important, create linked list modification wrappers.
	eg. swap prev, swap ahead.
   --- There is a high level of code duplication.

   --  Also adding a pointer to the previous node for
       backward searching (doubly linked list) in
       each node may increase search efficency.

7.
   Check that all source file are added correctly.

8.
   Build / Make scripts.

9.
  Testing.

ElliePenguins/UserData