🎿 Ski Resort Simulator

The Ski Resort Simulator is a console-based application that models the visitor flow in an arbitrary skiing resort. The system is implemented in C, focusing on dynamic data handling, pointer-based architecture, and explicit memory management.
The simulation follows a full day at the resort with interacting systems such as the lift, slopes, stations, queues, transportation, and visitor behaviour — all driven by time and probabilistic decision-making.

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✨ Key Features

• Full-day simulation of a ski resort (08:40 → 22:20)
• Real-time evolving system with:
  • lift operations (110 gondolas, continuous movement)
  • skier routing and behaviour
  • queues and boarding logic
• Multiple arrival and departure systems:
  • bus (scheduled)
  • car park (capacity-based)
  • hotel guests
• Ticket system:
  • 10-ride tickets
  • day tickets
• Bistro with limited stay and realistic behaviour
• Pseudo-graphical console output showing:
  • queue lengths
  • slope usage
  • lift occupancy
  • visitor count
  • ticket sales
  • parking and bus status
• Interactive controls:
  • pause / resume
  • turbo mode (×10 speed)
  • abort simulation

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🖥️ Console Output / Demonstration

The simulation provides a pseudo-graphical dashboard that updates in real time.

It visualises:

• lift movement and occupancy
• slope usage
• lift queue sizes
• visitor statistics
• system state

The actual output is continuously updated and rendered in-place to simulate a live dashboard.

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🚀 Running the Simulation

Requirements:

• C compiler (e.g. gcc, clang)
• CMake ≥ 3.10

Build:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Run:

./build/app/main

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🏗 Architecture

The system is structured into modular components with clear responsibilities.

Core Principles:

• Struct-based design (no OOP abstractions available in C)
• Explicit memory ownership
• Pointer-driven data flow
• Time-step simulation loop

Each simulation tick:

1. arrivals are processed
2. lift movement and exits occur
3. skiers progress on slopes
4. bistro activity updates
5. queues and boarding are handled
6. departures are processed

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🧠 Design Focus

Pointer-Based Architecture:

• Entities are interconnected via pointers
• No global state — everything is explicitly passed

Manual Memory Management:

• Controlled allocation (calloc)
• Deterministic cleanup (destroy_*)
• Clear ownership boundaries

Custom Data Structures:

• Doubly linked lists
• Queues
• Circular linked gondola system

Probabilistic Simulation:

• Uniform, normal, and log-normal distributions
• Used for:
  • arrivals and departures
  • activity durations (skiing, eating at bistro, resting at hotel)
  • routing decisions
  • ticket selection

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🗃️ Project Structure

.
├── app/                → Entry point (main.c)
├── include/skiresort   → Public headers
├── src/                → Implementation
├── tests/              → Unit tests
├── docs/               → Reference material
├── CMakeLists.txt
└── README.md

Module Overview

Core Simulation:

• central control loop and time progression
• simulation, resort, clock

Infrastructure & Flow Logic:

• routing logic and state transitions of people
• station, lift_queue

Entities:

• moving actors and transport containers
• person, gondola

Environment:

• physical resort components and activity spaces
• lift, slope, bistro, hotel

Transport Systems:

• arrival and departure mechanisms
• bus, bus_stop, car, car_park

Data Structures:

• custom dynamic data structures
• list, queue, node

Utilities:

• randomness and user interaction
• probability, input

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🧪 Testing

The project includes a comprehensive suite of unit tests, using static assertions to verify correctness and invariants. They cover:

• data structures (List, Queue, Node)
• memory handling
• scheduling logic
• probabilistic behaviour
• system interactions

Build tests:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Run all tests:

ctest --test-dir build

Run specific test (example):

ctest -R list_tests --test-dir build

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🎯 What This Project Demonstrates

• System modelling in pure C
• Robust dynamic memory handling
• Pointer-based architecture
• Simulation of complex interacting systems
• Modular design without object-oriented abstractions
• Realistic behaviour through probabilistic modelling
• Clear separation of responsibilities across modules

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🙌 Get Involved

Feel free to:

• Explore the simulation logic
• Extend system behaviour
• Add new features (e.g. weather, pricing, AI)
• Use the project as a reference for systems programming in C

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Thanks for Visiting!

This project demonstrates how complex, dynamic systems can be built in pure C using clean structure, careful memory management, and well-defined data flow.

Happy coding! 🚀