Introduction to Data Compression (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Khalid Sayood's textbook-style Introduction to Data Compression is the definitive guide to all kinds of compression schemes. Early chapters establish the mathematics involved in basic compression techniques, including lossless and lossy compression as well as the fundamentals of information theory that lay the groundwork for common forms of compression. (The book contains all the relevant formulas, although those who don't need such mathematical detail will still be able to understand the book.)

A good portion of the book examines various compression schemes, their strengths and weaknesses, and what content they work best for. Introduction to Data Compression begins with lossless compression schemes, which lose no information during the compression/decompression process. Huffman Coding, a well-established compression scheme, and arithmetic and dictionary coding also receive excellent treatment. In addition, the author takes on lossless compression for images.

For lossy compression, Sayood discusses schemes that use quantization, where a range of values is compressed in some way. He also describes scalar, vector, and differential encoding and fractal compression. A final chapter looks at video encryption (which often combines techniques from earlier chapters). Many of the compression schemes include examples from image and sound files, but the book considers a wide variety of video schemes too. This rich and confidently written text collates a lot of research and can serve as both textbook and source for designers who need a readable and mathematically solid introduction to data compression.

Review

The need to efficiently store, manipulate, and transmit large masses of information is growing more rapidly than the capacity of systems to handle it. Engineers and computer scientists need a solid understanding of compression in order to work with the burgeoning variety of data types and increasingly data-intensive applications. This uniquely comprehensive book explains the fundamental theories and techniques of data compression, with the most complete coverage available of both lossy and lossless methods. Rather than simply describing current approaches, Sayood explains the theoretical underpinnings of the algorithms so that readers learn how to model structures in data and design compression packages of their own. Practitioners, researchers, and students will benefit from the balanced presentation of theoretical material and implementations.

Features:
* Covers both lossy and lossless compression techniques with applications to image, speech, text, audio, and video compression.
* Official compression standards for video, audio, text, and facsimile are discussed in order to illustrate the techniques: includes JPEG, MPEG, G.728, H.261, and Group 3 and 4 fax standards.
* Detailed examples follow each new concept or algorithm.
* Software implementations and sample data sets are available, allowing readers to work through the examples in the book and to experiment with various compression techniques on their own.
* Optional starred sections provide enhanced technical or theoretical discussions.
* Appendices on probability theory, random processes, and matrix concepts are included for reference. -- Book Description

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 475 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Pub (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558603468
• ISBN-13: 978-1558603462
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,853,371 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent textbook, September 25, 2000

By	Prof Paul D Amer (Newark, DE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Data Compression, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems) (Audio Cassette)

While some books may cover individual compression techniques in finer detail, Sayood's book provides the best comprehensive overview of the data compression field including video, voice, images, text, music, etc. The reader gains a deep respect for the underlying mathematical basis for compression without being inundated with complex mathematics. I use this book for a senior undergrad / beginning grad student level course at the University of Delaware, and strongly recommend it to others.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "The" Definitive Guide, February 15, 2004

By	Emory T Clark (Marietta, ga United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Data Compression, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems) (Audio Cassette)

Amazon claims that this is "the definitive guide". I have to agree with them because this book is the only broad grey pages introduction to data compression that I have been able to find, and it is very well written.

If you are only casually interested in data compression this book is not for you.

If you are interested in adding compression to your application and your data falls into a common category, sound, video, text ect this book is probably not for you. You should look to the open source community or buy an off the shelf product.

But if your data is odd or unique like say telemtry data (I'm sure there are other examples I just can't think of any) and you need to design a compression scheme for your data this book is "the only" book for you.

If you want to begin research into data compression and you are a newbie this book is a must have.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't see any alternatives, March 21, 2001

By	Sakesun Roykiattisak (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Introduction to Data Compression, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Multimedia Information and Systems) (Audio Cassette)

Many reviewers tried to say that this book should avoid the word "INTRODUCTION" in it's name because of it's intensive mathematics. But I'm totally disagree. Mathematics and all theoretical aspects explained in this book is just a preliminary review compare to what the researchers all around the world are doing in the data compression area. This book is really an "INTRODUCTION" book.

This book is very comprehensive. You'd absolutely need it if you are going to start a research in this area. If you're just wonder how data can be compressed, you can try other easy books like Peter Wayner's :"Compression Algorithms for Real Programmers". Or if you need compression as a feature in your software product, I'd suggest you not to implement it yourself. Try 3rd party library. Data Compression is the job for specialists.