Compression Algorithms for Real Programmers (The For Real Programmers Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The science of compressing data is the art of creating shorthand representations for the data-that is, automatically finding abbreviations; i.e. yadda yadda yadda, etc..." (more)
Key Phrases: context extractor, data compression apparatus, data character stream, Less Probability Symbol, Claude Shannon, Frames These (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In life, time is money, and on the Internet, the size of data is money. Small programs and small files take less disk space and cost less to send over the Internet. Compression Algorithms for Real Programmers describes the basic algorithms and approaches for compressing information so you can create the smallest files possible. These new algorithms are making it possible for people to take impossibly large audio and video files and compress them enough that they can flow over the Internet.

* Examines the classic algorithms like Huffman coding, arithmetic compression, and dictionary-based schemes in depth
* Describes the basic approaches used to squeeze audio and video signals by factors of as much as 100:1
* Discusses the philosophy of compression to illustrate the underlying trade-offs in the algorithms
* Explores the use of wavelets and other modeling techniques that use repetitive functions to squeeze audio and video
* Shows how programming solutions like Adobe PostScript can save space and make networks more efficient
* Describes new approaches using fractals and grammars just being explored by the compression community
* Shows how to extend the algorithms and use them for copyright protection

From the Back Cover

In life, time is money, and on the Internet, the size of data is money. Small programs and small files take less disk space and cost less to send over the Internet. Compression Algorithms for Real Programmers describes the basic algorithms and approaches for compressing information so you can create the smallest files possible. These new algorithms are making it possible for people to take impossibly large audio and video files and compress them enough that they can flow over the Internet.

Features:
* Examines the classic algorithms like Huffman coding, arithmetic compression, and dictionary-based schemes in depth
* Describes the basic approaches used to squeeze audio and video signals by factors of as much as 100:1
* Discusses the philosophy of compression to illustrate the underlying trade-offs in the algorithms
* Explores the use of wavelets and other modeling techniques that use repetitive functions to squeeze audio and video
* Shows how programming solutions like Adobe PostScript can save space and make networks more efficient
* Describes new approaches using fractals and grammars just being explored by the compression community
* Shows how to extend the algorithms and use them for copyright protection

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (October 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0127887741
• ISBN-13: 978-0127887746
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,016,699 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Introduction to Compression Techniques, December 20, 2000

By	James Boer (Kirkland, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mr. Wayner offers a fairly comprehensive introduction to a number of various compression schemes and techniques, ranging from simple substitution and dictionary based methods (such as Huffman-encoding) to more advanced algorithms (such as Fourier transforms, MP3 music, and JPEG image compression).

Note the word "introduction" in the title of the review, however. If you're looking for a comprehensive specification of a specific algorithm, this book is not the place to look. There are numerous papers and books digging deeply into a single algorithm or codec. Compression Algorithms will simply give you a broad understanding of the theory behind these compression techniques, along with some algorithms written in pseudocode or mathematical notation.

Compression by nature is a highly mathematical or algorithmic process, and so, by nature, the book may be slightly too mathematically inclined for some, but I simply can't fault the author for this, as any additional simplification of the material presented would have rendered it useless for real professionals looking for more than a sugar-coated description of the algorithms.

I had purchased this book for two reasons: Firstly, I am the sound programmer for a game development company, and sound compression is an important part of today's interactive computer entertainment titles. Coverage of sound compression techniques was advertised, and I feel I got my money's worth because of the information I obtained. This may seem strange since a cursory glance of the book will show the chapter on audio compression to be only 8 pages long. However, a deeper inspection will show that the chapter builds on a great deal of earlier material that, although not specific to audio compression, negates the requirement for a lengthy chapter later. Perhaps the only fault with this is in book organization. Secondly, because I will be creating a proprietary compression system, it is important to have a broad understanding of many different compression techniques in order to create the most versatile hybrid compression scheme for our sound engine. To this end, the book also does a great job. It certainly may be necessary for me to follow up with some books on specific algorithms, but without having first read Mr. Wayner's book, I would not have known about those algorithms in the first place.

I've given the book 4 out of 5 star because the book seems a bit short (177 pages, excluding the appendices) for the price, and for subjecting me to no less than 24 images of his foot (he couldn't have found a more interesing image as an example?). Overall, though, I found the book well written and extremely valuable for the work I plan to start very shortly in my new position.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but filled with many, many errors., May 4, 2000

By	"robert_b" (Seattle Washington) - See all my reviews

Despite the title, "Compression Algorithms for Real Programmers," the true audience for this book is not only programmers, but anyone who would like a brief introduction to compression algorithms and the patent politics impacting their use. The book is rather lightweight on details of the algorithms; as such, it is a good overture for programmers, but a dangerous source from which to create software, as "real" programmers often do.

This book was an introduction to the field for me, and for that I found it valuable. However, even though I am a compression neophyte, I found many errors in the examples and the explanations. What concerns me is that if compression novice, as I am, can find errors, how many more hidden errors are in there that I could not deduce? These mistakes often made it difficult to understand the algorithms the author is trying to explain. Not only must one try to comprehend the algorithms, one must first determine what the author actually meant to write. In addition, there are errors in grammar and typesetting that impact the smooth reading of the sometimes complex text.

The book would have benefited greatly from a careful reading by three editors: a technical reading by someone in the intended audience, a technical reading an expert in the field, and a literary reading to smooth out the writing, correct the grammar and point out the typesetting errors. Had the author and editors been more careful, I would have given the text four stars rather than the two.

Use it as a first book, an introduction, for ideas, and source for references. However, follow up on the references before proceeding to create even a line of code.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars superficial, not an introduction for this programmer, March 26, 2003

By	M. Rumore (Oswego, il USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book very superficial and not much detail
in its descriptions. As a "real programmer (???)", this book
is not what I want. It does not give the in-depth information
that a "real programmer" would require, you might as well
go read the original papers with all the confusing and
obfuscating mathematics.

This book does has one big plus, one of the appendices (almost
50 pages) lists many, if not most, of the relevent patents
concerning compression.