Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm.

Date	2015-02-17 10:18 -0500
From	Dave Angel <davea@davea.name>
Subject	Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm.
References	<e45a71b2-7ec0-4c7d-88ae-c48aebe154b7@googlegroups.com> <54E34C68.6040700@davea.name> <CAPTjJmpF2OkaK3LKS1Uf=Rsc-XEczb=pkuUoyWLvLfQpvJHKSA@mail.gmail.com> <54E35519.7060607@davea.name> <CAPTjJmqEbG84if_gt-Zs0HYSbuLkyp0F_fv04g9eGxuUmf6NHw@mail.gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.18788.1424186328.18130.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On 02/17/2015 09:58 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 1:50 AM, Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> wrote:
>> But the first thing I'd expect to see would be a target estimate of the
>> anticipated distribution of number values/magnitudes.  For example, if a
>> typical integer is 1500 bits, plus/minus 200 bits, I'd probably try encoding
>> in base 65535, and have a terminator character of 0xffff.
>
> Sure. Not sure how you'd cope with an interior FFFF in the stream
> without drastically losing efficiency, though.

That's why it was base 65535, not 65536.

>
>> An interesting point of history.  At the time of Huffman's paper, it was
>> provable that it was the best possible lossless compression.  But there were
>> some unwritten assumptions, such as that each character would be encoded
>> with a whole number of bits.  Changing that assumption makes arithmetic
>> coding possible.  Next assumption was that probabilities of each character
>> didn't depend on context.  Changing that assumption enables LZ.  And so on.
>
> Didn't LZ predate arithmetic coding?

I really don't know.  I looked up Huffman's article (before Internet, I 
found it in a library) from the 1952 IRE journal (I believe that's where 
it was).  I probably read it about 1980.

But arithmetic coding and LZ both came later to me, and that's the order 
I saw them in.

> But yes, removing those
> assumptions has enabled some pretty amazing alternatives. Just
> describing arithmetic coding to them is enough to blow most people's
> minds. (Especially my sister. She hates infinity, mainly - I think -
> because it doesn't fit inside her brain. I troll her occasionally with
> Hilbert's Hotel or anything involving the notion of different sizes of
> infinity.)


-- 
DaveA

Thread

python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-17 03:22 -0800
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-18 00:16 +1100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 00:55 -0800
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-18 20:36 +1100
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 11:29 -0800
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-02-18 11:32 +0100
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 11:48 -0800
      People hated it for the same reasons I found them cool (was: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm.) Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2015-02-18 21:57 +1100
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-17 09:12 -0500
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 00:59 -0800
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-18 11:46 -0500
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2015-02-18 17:30 +0000
          Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-02-18 18:12 +0000
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 11:55 -0800
          Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-02-18 23:54 +0200
            Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-02-19 00:08 +0200
            Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2015-02-18 22:58 +0000
          Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-18 17:19 -0500
            Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-19 07:45 -0800
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 11:04 -0700
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 11:16 -0700
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-19 13:24 -0500
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-20 05:34 +1100
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 11:32 -0700
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-19 13:41 -0500
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-19 13:46 -0500
              Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-20 05:49 +1100
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-02-18 17:00 +0000
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-18 01:34 +1100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 01:04 -0800
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-18 08:54 -0500
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 11:52 -0800
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 01:16 +1100
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-17 09:50 -0500
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-18 01:58 +1100
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2015-02-17 10:18 -0500
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-18 02:25 +1100
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2015-02-17 08:43 -0800
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-18 01:06 -0800
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mario Figueiredo <marfig@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 08:44 +0100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-02-19 08:06 +0000
      Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-02-19 10:36 +0200
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-02-19 09:33 +0000
        Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2015-02-19 14:50 -0500
          Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-02-19 21:55 +0200
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 19:36 +1100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mario Figueiredo <marfig@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 10:42 +0100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-02-19 10:28 +0000
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Mario Figueiredo <marfig@gmail.com> - 2015-02-19 14:27 +0100
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Jonas Wielicki <jonas@wielicki.name> - 2015-02-19 09:38 +0100
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. janhein.vanderburg@gmail.com - 2015-02-19 07:58 -0800
  Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2015-02-20 02:46 +0000
    Re: python implementation of a new integer encoding algorithm. wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2015-02-20 00:58 -0800

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