A Concise Introduction to Data Compression

Compressing data is an option naturally selected when faced with problems of high costs or restricted space. Written by a renowned expert in the field, this book offers readers a succinct, reader-friendly foundation to the chief approaches, methods and techniques currently employed in the field of data compression. Part I presents the basic approaches to data compression and describes a few popular techniques and methods commonly used to compress data. The reader discovers essential concepts, such as variable-length and prefix codes, statistical distributions and run-length encoding. Part II then concentrates on advanced techniques, such as arithmetic coding, orthogonal transforms, subband transforms and the Burrows-Wheeler transform. Features: • Clear overview of the principles underlying this field • Outlines the essentials of the various approaches to compressing data • Contains many learning aids such as: chapter introductions and summaries, chapter-end exercises, comprehensive glossary, etc. • Provides several examples of important compression algorithms • Offers a supplementary author-maintained website, with errata and auxiliary material – www.davidsalomon.name/DCugAdvertis/DCug.html • An ideal introductory volume to David Salomon’s fourth edition of Data Compression: The Complete Reference Complete and clear, this book is the perfect resource for undergraduates in computer science and requires a minimum of mathematics. It is also ideal for readers with a basic knowledge of computer science wanting to learn about data compression. 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, Transformations and Projections in Computer Graphics, and Variable-length Codes for Data Compression.