Expense Tracker

Personal Finance Management Application

C++ Data Structures File I/O STL OOP
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Project Overview

A comprehensive personal finance management application built in C++ that helps users track expenses, manage budgets, and analyze spending patterns. The system provides transaction categorization, budget alerts, and detailed financial reports with persistent data storage.

Key Features

  • Transaction tracking with category management
  • Budget creation and monitoring with alerts
  • Spending analysis by category and time period
  • Persistent data storage using file I/O
  • Monthly and yearly financial summaries
  • Data export to CSV format

Technical Implementation

Architecture

The application follows object-oriented design principles with separate modules for different functionalities:

  • Transaction Manager: Handles adding, editing, and deleting transactions
  • Budget Controller: Manages budget limits and generates alerts
  • Analytics Engine: Computes spending statistics and trends
  • Data Persistence: File-based storage with serialization
  • CLI Interface: User-friendly command-line interface
Technologies Used
  • C++: Core programming language with C++11 features
  • STL: Vectors, maps, and algorithms for data management
  • File Streams: Binary and text file I/O operations
  • OOP Principles: Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism
  • Exception Handling: Robust error management

Challenges & Solutions

Challenge: Data Persistence

Solution: Implemented serialization/deserialization system using binary files for efficient storage and retrieval of transaction history.

Challenge: Memory Management

Solution: Used smart pointers and RAII principles to prevent memory leaks and ensure proper resource cleanup.

Challenge: Date Handling

Solution: Created a custom Date class with validation and comparison operators for accurate transaction timestamping.

What I Learned

  • Advanced C++ programming and STL usage
  • Object-oriented design patterns and principles
  • File I/O operations and data serialization
  • Memory management and resource handling
  • Building user-friendly CLI applications

Project Links

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