About the Book

The Stony Brook Algorithm Repository

Steven Skiena
Stony Brook University
Dept. of Computer Science

• By Language
  • C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Java
  • FORTRAN
  • Python
  • Mathematica
  • Pascal
  • ADA
  • Lisp
  • Binary
• By Problem
  • 1.1 Data Structures
    • Dictionaries
    • Priority Queues
    • Suffix Trees and Arrays
    • Graph Data Structures
    • Set Data Structures
    • Kd-Trees
  • 1.2 Numerical Problems
    • Solving Linear Equations
    • Bandwidth Reduction
    • Matrix Multiplication
    • Determinants and Permanents
    • Constrained and Unconstrained Optimization
    • Linear Programming
    • Random Number Generation
    • Factoring and Primality Testing
    • Arbitrary Precision Arithmetic
    • Knapsack Problem
    • Discrete Fourier Transform
  • 1.3 Combinatorial Problems
    • Sorting
    • Searching
    • Median and Selection
    • Generating Permutations
    • Generating Subsets
    • Generating Partitions
    • Generating Graphs
    • Calendrical Calculations
    • Job Scheduling
    • Satisfiability
  • 1.4 Graph Problems -- polynomial-time problems
    • Connected Components
    • Topological Sorting
    • Minimum Spanning Tree
    • Shortest Path
    • Transitive Closure and Reduction
    • Matching
    • Eulerian Cycle / Chinese Postman
    • Edge and Vertex Connectivity
    • Network Flow
    • Drawing Graphs Nicely
    • Drawing Trees
    • Planarity Detection and Embedding
  • 1.5 Graph Problems -- hard problems
    • Clique
    • Independent Set
    • Vertex Cover
    • Traveling Salesman Problem
    • Hamiltonian Cycle
    • Graph Partition
    • Vertex Coloring
    • Edge Coloring
    • Graph Isomorphism
    • Steiner Tree
    • Feedback Edge/Vertex Set
  • 1.6 Computational Geometry
    • Robust Geometric Primitives
    • Convex Hull
    • Triangulation
    • Voronoi Diagrams
    • Nearest Neighbor Search
    • Range Search
    • Point Location
    • Intersection Detection
    • Bin Packing
    • Medial-Axis Transformation
    • Polygon Partitioning
    • Simplifying Polygons
    • Shape Similarity
    • Motion Planning
    • Maintaining Line Arrangements
    • Minkowski Sum
  • 1.7 Set and String Problems
    • Set Cover
    • Set Packing
    • String Matching
    • Approximate String Matching
    • Text Compression
    • Cryptography
    • Finite State Machine Minimization
    • Longest Common Substring
    • Shortest Common Superstring
• Algorithm Links
  • Algorithm Lectures
  • Algorithm Design Manual Information
  • CSE 373 Course page
  • NIST Dictory of Algorithms and Data Structures
  • World of Mathematics
  • Programming Challenges
  • Graduate Study Opportuinties

1.7.5 Text Compression

Problem: A shortest text string S' such that S can be reconstructed from S'.

Excerpt from The Algorithm Design Manual: Secondary storage devices fill up quickly on every computer system, even though their capacity doubles each year. Decreasing storage prices have only increased interest in data compression, since there is now more data to compress than ever before. Data compression is the algorithmic problem of finding alternative, space-efficient encodings for a given data file. With the rise of computer networks, a new mission for data compression has arisen, that of increasing the effective bandwidth of networks by reducing the number of bits before transmission.

Data compression is a problem for which practical people like to invent ad hoc methods, designed for their particular applications. Sometimes these outperform general methods, but often they do not.

Recommended Books

Introduction to Algorithms by T. Cormen and C. Leiserson and R. Rivest and C. Stein	Text Compression by Timothy C. Bell, Ian H. Witten, and John Cleary	Introduction to Algorithms by U. Manber
Data compression: methods and theory by J. Storer	Data Structures and Algorithms by A. Aho and J. Hopcroft and J. Ullman	Graph Algorithms by S. Even

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