Expanded Project Guides

Generated from: LEARN_C_MP3_PLAYER_FROM_SCRATCH.md

Overview

This directory contains expanded, detailed project guides for building an MP3 player from scratch in C. Each project builds on the previous one, taking you from audio output fundamentals to a complete, polished MP3 player.

Project Index

# Project Difficulty Time Key Focus
1 The WAV Player Level 3: Advanced 1-2 weeks Audio Output / Platform APIs
2 MP3 Frame Scanner & Parser Level 3: Advanced 1-2 weeks Binary Parsing / Bit Manipulation
3 The MP3 Decoder Core Level 5: Master 1-2 months Signal Processing / Huffman / IMDCT
4 The Complete MP3 Player Level 4: Expert 1 week System Integration / Real-Time

Learning Path

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    MP3 Player Learning Path                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

    Project 1                Project 2               Project 3               Project 4
┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   WAV Player    │────▶│  Frame Scanner  │────▶│  MP3 Decoder    │────▶│ Complete Player │
│                 │     │                 │     │                 │     │                 │
│ • Audio output  │     │ • Sync patterns │     │ • Huffman       │     │ • Threading     │
│ • PCM format    │     │ • Bit parsing   │     │ • IMDCT         │     │ • Ring buffers  │
│ • ALSA/CoreAudio│     │ • ID3 tags      │     │ • Filterbank    │     │ • Integration   │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

Prerequisites

Before starting these projects, you should:

  • Have strong C programming skills (pointers, memory management, bit manipulation)
  • Understand basic file I/O and binary data handling
  • Be comfortable reading technical documentation
  • Have a development environment with ALSA (Linux), CoreAudio (macOS), or WASAPI (Windows)

Expected Outcomes

After completing all projects, you will:

  1. Deeply understand audio fundamentals: PCM, sample rates, bit depths, interleaving
  2. Master binary file parsing: Reading and interpreting complex file formats
  3. Implement DSP algorithms: Huffman decoding, IMDCT, synthesis filterbanks
  4. Build real-time systems: Threading, lock-free buffers, producer-consumer patterns
  5. Have a working MP3 player: A complete, functional audio player you built from scratch

Main Guide

For the complete theory primer, concept explanations, and additional context, see the main guide:

LEARN_C_MP3_PLAYER_FROM_SCRATCH.md