Customer Reviews

Introduction to Error Control Codes (Textbooks in Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

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Any one seriously interested in learning about Error correction and control, will find this book exceptionally well written and simple to follow. I think, Prof. Gravano has amply fulfilled the long felt need for a book that does not bombard the readers with too much technical jargon and at the same time systematically covers all the essential concepts ranging from block codes, linear algebra to galois fiels, BCH and convolution codes. Also a good prototype for people who wish to endeavour in professional writing in any field.

The outstanding characteristic of this book is how easy it is to read. Very little mathematical background is required; instead, what is needed is developed in the text itself. This includes just enough linear algebra and group theory to present and explain the results presented. All the examples are worked out in good detail, and the book is almost free of typos.

The topics covered are block codes, specifically linear and cyclic codes, and their implementation with linear feedback shift registers. After some development of Galois Fields and linear algebra, BCH codes are introduced, and specifically Reed-Solomon codes are covered. A last, quick chapter on convolution coding concludes the book.

This book is for you if you want to know how error corrective coding works, but not really why. A typical comment is that the Berlekamp algorithm (for decoding Reed-Solomon codes) is "complex," but "its complexity lies mainly in the proof of the algorithm, which we omit." If you want a book with greater detail, try "Information Theory and Reliable Communication" by Bob Gallager as one of many more advanced texts.

This book starts out at a level someone who is not a current undergraduate math student can understand, and I appreciate the limited number of math proofs in this book. But, basic error correction coding is all but useless except for theory and basic understanding. When the text finally gets to useful topics like Reed-Solomon codes, the text gets terse and very difficult to follow and the targeted audience moves to a current graduate math student level. The author was obviously very rushed to finish the book. Chapter 7 (this book's MOST important chapter) needs to be rewritten. I did not study Chapter 8.