NameSurfer

A command-line application that queries and visualizes U.S. baby name popularity rankings across decades (1900–2010), powered by a custom sorted linked list data structure.

Overview

NameSurfer lets users explore how the popularity of baby names has changed over more than a century. It parses a dataset of 4,400+ names with decade-by-decade rankings and provides two interactive query modes:

1. Name Lookup — Enter any name to see its popularity trajectory from 1900 to 2010, displayed as an ASCII bar chart.
2. Decade Comparison — Select a specific decade and compare the rankings of multiple names side by side.

Rankings are displayed using a visual star-based scale where fewer stars indicate higher popularity (lower rank number = more popular).

Key Features

• Interactive CLI menu with name search and decade comparison modes
• ASCII bar chart visualization of name popularity rankings across 12 decades
• Case-insensitive search — queries are normalized for reliable matching
• Sorted linked list database — names are stored in alphabetical order using a custom generic linked list, enabling efficient ordered traversal
• Templatized data structures — the linked list and node classes are fully generic (template <class NODETYPE>), making them reusable beyond this project
• Comprehensive dataset — includes 4,400+ names with rankings from the 1900s through the 2010s

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Language	C++ (C++11)
Build System	GNU Make
Data Structures	Custom templatized sorted linked list
Dataset	U.S. Social Security Administration baby name rankings (1900–2010)

System Architecture

NamesData.txt ──▶ NameSurferDataBase ──▶ linked_list<NameSurferEntry>
                    (file parser)           (sorted alphabetically)
                         │
                         ▼
                      main.cpp
                    (interactive CLI)
                         │
               ┌─────────┴─────────┐
               ▼                   ▼
         Name Lookup         Decade Comparison
      (single name,         (multiple names,
      all decades)           single decade)
               │                   │
               ▼                   ▼
         ASCII bar chart      Side-by-side
           (1900–2010)        ranking display

Data flow:

1. NameSurferDataBase reads NamesData.txt and parses each line into a NameSurferEntry object containing a name and a vector of 11 decade rankings.
2. Each entry is inserted in alphabetical order into a linked_list<NameSurferEntry> using the InsertInOrder method.
3. The CLI menu in main.cpp accepts user input, searches the database via findEntry(), and renders results as ASCII bar charts.

Setup & Installation

Prerequisites

• g++ with C++11 support
• GNU Make

Build & Run

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/samie-mirghani/namesurfer.git
cd namesurfer

# Build the project
make

# Run the application
./a.out

Clean Build Artifacts

make clean

Usage Example

Menu
1. Enter a name to be searched
2. Enter a year
3. Exit

Choose and option:
1
Please enter a name:
Emily
You selected Emily
1900****-224
1910***-191
1920****-216
1930****-228
1940****-214
1950****-224
1960*****-273
1970****-241
1980***-174
1990*-25
2000-6
2010******-312

Project Structure

namesurfer/
├── main.cpp                 # Entry point and interactive CLI menu
├── NameSurferEntry.h/.cpp   # Name entry model (name + decade rankings)
├── NameSurferDataBase.h/.cpp# Database: file parser and search interface
├── linked_list.h/.cpp       # Generic sorted linked list implementation
├── single_node.h/.cpp       # Generic linked list node
├── NamesData.txt            # Dataset (4,400+ names, rankings 1900–2010)
└── makefile                 # Build configuration

Suggested Topics / Tags

cpp data-structures linked-list name-popularity cli-application baby-names data-visualization ascii-chart