Data Compression: The Complete Reference [Hardcover]

David Salomon (Author), G. Motta (Contributor), D. Bryant (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1846286026 | ISBN-13: 978-1846286025 | Edition: 4th

"A wonderful treasure chest of information; spanning a wide range of data compression methods, from simple test compression methods to the use of wavelets in image compression. It is unusual for a text on compression to cover the field so completely." – ACM Computing Reviews "Salomon’s book is the most complete and up-to-date reference on the subject. The style, rigorous yet easy to read, makes this book the preferred choice … [and] the encyclopedic nature of the text makes it an obligatory acquisition by our library." – Dr Martin Cohn, Brandeis University Data compression is one of the most important tools in modern computing, and there has been tremendous progress in all areas of the field. This fourth edition of Data Compression provides an all-inclusive, thoroughly updated, and user-friendly reference for the many different types and methods of compression (especially audio compression, an area in which many new topics covered in this revised edition appear). Among the important features of the book are a detailed and helpful taxonomy, a detailed description of the most common methods, and discussions on the use and comparative benefits of different methods. The book’s logical, clear and lively presentation is organized around the main branches of data compression. Topics and features: •highly inclusive, yet well-balanced coverage for specialists and nonspecialists •thorough coverage of wavelets methods, including SPIHT, EZW, DjVu, WSQ, and JPEG 2000 •comprehensive updates on all material from previous editions And these NEW topics: •RAR, a proprietary algorithm •FLAC, a free, lossless audio compression method •WavPack, an open, multiplatform audio-compression algorithm •LZMA, a sophisticated dictionary-based compression method •Differential compression •ALS, the audio lossless coding algorithm used in MPEG-4 •H.264, an advanced video codec, part of the huge MPEG-4 project •AC-3, Dolby's third-generation audio codec •Hyperspectral compression of 3D data sets This meticulously enhanced reference is an essential resource and companion for all computer scientists; computer, electrical and signal/image processing engineers; and scientists needing a comprehensive compilation of compression methods. It requires only a minimum of mathematics and is well-suited to nonspecialists and general readers who need to know and use this valuable content. David Salomon is a professor emeritus of computer Science at California State University, Northridge. He has authored numerous articles and books, including Coding for Data and Computer Communications, Guide to Data Compression Methods, Data Privacy and Security, Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling, Foundations of Computer Security and Transformations and Projections in Computer Graphics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From a review of a previous edition: "A wonderful treasure chest of information; spanning a wide range of data compression methods, from simple text compression methods to the use of wavelets in image compression. It is unusual for a text on compression to cover the field so completely." --Computing Reviews From the reviews of the fourth edition: "A clear presentation of both the principles of data compression and all the important compression methods currently in use. The book is geared towards the nonspecialists. … can be a valuable reference for researchers with an interest in compression (or compression-related topics), engineers, and applied scientists working on products employing compression technology. … Overall, the book is an excellent reference on compression principles and methods for anyone with a general background in signal processing or computer science." (Shahram Shirani, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, March, 2008) "The author’s comprehensive and informative presentation of these topics courageously does away with most of the theoretical topics needed to support the concepts – which is most welcomed. … The text is easy to read… A collection of exercises for each chapter and a solid glossary are included. …the book is attractive to both the incidental reader (who needs a brief description and no details) and the more thorough one (who may use it for starting a research or teaching project). … The book’s size is alarmingly large, but appropriate for a complete reference work; it is rightfully titled." (Stefan Robila, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (9), September 2008) "Readers who rely on modern computing for their research and development projects will appreciate that data compression is one of its most important tools. … this is the fourth edition of this reference text it has obviously served this field well and has been updated to account for the strides that have been made in this field. … The new edition brings the text references to date and also introduces many new and important topics." (Kybernetes, Vol. 38 (5), 2009)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1092 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 4th edition (December 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846286026
• ISBN-13: 978-1846286025
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,441,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent overview of many algorithms, October 23, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Data Compression: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

This book is more about breadth than depth. It explains the workings of pretty much every data and image compression algorithm you've ever heard of. It's not as strong on theory as Bell/Cleary/Witten's _Text Compression_, and doesn't have source code like Nelson's _The Data Compression Book_, but it does a fine job of filling in the space between.

If you're not looking for source code or lots of theory, and just want to know what all these dozens of algorithms actually *do*, this would be an appropriate book for you.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Many algorithms included, but no in-depth discussion, May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Data Compression: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

This book explains lots of algorithms, the author tries to give you a brief overview on each of them.

However, if you're interested in the concrete ideas and proofs on how the algorithms help you to compress your data, with some mathematical works, the book isn't enough. You'll find it difficult if you want to implement the algorithms by merely reading the book.

Some idea are not clearly explained too, say, the the information on Gzip is just a summary of the GNU documentation with no in-depth discussion.

Anyway, this book is a great one judging from the (sad) fact that there are not many references on the subject.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An undiscovered gem of compression algorithm details, April 7, 2006

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Data Compression: The Complete Reference (Hardcover)

This book covers a needed middle ground between the more formal books on the subject such as Sayood's "Introduction To Data Compression" and easy programmer-oriented books such as Nelson's "The Data Compression Book". This book is an encyclopedia of compression methods that briefly describes the technique of each method, along with any required math, and then shows the algorithm. Code is not shown in the sense that there are no CompressionAlgorithm.cpp files included that you can lift without knowing what you are doing. However, the algorithm pseudocode is such that you should be able to translate any algorithm into code without much trouble. I know that this book has helped me. I would suggest that any true student of data compression methods use this book in conjunction with Sayood's book. Use Sayood to get the mathematical background that you need. Then use this book to read the details of a particular algorithm in plain language. This book is truly an undiscovered gem for most in the field and I highly recommend it.