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Re: information theory?

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In article <E8udnR4LarelIizTnZ2dnUVZ_ridnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
 VWWall <vwall@large.invalid> wrote:

[....]

> I was at Bell Labs in 1949, and Betty Moore, Claude Shannon's wife, 
> worked in the same department.  She complained that their new carpet 
> didn't have deep enough nap to hide the solder droppings from the 
> computer Claude was building.  It could perform math functions with its 
> input/output being in Roman numerals.
> 
> > It's sort of funny, he called it communication
> > theory, it was his disciples who popularized
> > 'information theory'.
> > 
> Shannon took a very practical outlook on "information".  I recall how 
> he would stop people in the halls and ask them to guess the next letter 
> in a sentence he'd show them.  I remember one as: "A motorcycle has no 
> reverse; it can not back up."  He used this method to determine the 
> redundancy in the English language.
> 
> Most of the time, he was riding his unicycle down the hall!

The seminal introductory work for me was the Undergraduate text
"Coding and Information Theory", by the late Richard W. Hamming,
1980, ISBN 0-13-139139-9 (perhaps one of the 1st books to have
an ISBN number).  It cost me $26.35 (CDN), hardcover, and I
devoured every morsel of it.

His later work "The Art of Probability" is also worth a read for
anyone who still believes in randomness.

outer

-- 
Random : An infinitesimal, yet omnidimensional, god of science.
Random often appears in the guise of a trickster named Error.

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information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-10-31 20:55 -0700
  Re: information theory? eric.jacobsen@ieee.org (Eric Jacobsen) - 2011-11-01 04:57 +0000
    Re: information theory? Chris <chris.santoro@gmail.com> - 2011-11-01 05:58 -0700
      Re: information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-01 10:29 -0700
        Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-01 11:13 -0700
          Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-01 14:39 -0700
        Re: information theory? robert bristow-johnson <rbj@audioimagination.com> - 2011-11-01 16:04 -0400
          OT: information theory? Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> - 2011-11-01 18:06 -0400
          Re: information theory? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2011-11-01 22:46 +0000
        Re: information theory? "BJACOBY@teranews.com" <benj@iwaynet.net> - 2011-11-01 22:38 -0500
          Re: information theory? Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2011-11-02 17:06 -0500
            Re: information theory? "steveu" <steveu@n_o_s_p_a_m.coppice.org> - 2011-11-02 19:41 -0500
            Re: information theory? Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2011-11-03 06:58 -0500
              Re: information theory? "GO-HERE .NL" <gdewilde@gmail.com> - 2011-11-03 08:57 -0700
          Re: information theory? Lofty Goat <rlwatkins@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 19:44 -0500
            Re: information theory? "Christopher J. Henrich" <chenrich@monmouth.com> - 2011-11-02 22:40 -0400
              Re: information theory? Lofty Goat <rlwatkins@gmail.com> - 2011-11-03 23:21 -0500
        Re: information theory? Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-11-02 08:47 +0000
          Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) JohnF <john@please.see.sig.for.email.com> - 2011-11-02 09:48 +0000
            Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-11-02 10:02 +0000
              Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-11-02 16:46 +0000
              Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) Bernd Jendrissek <bernd.jendrissek@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 15:04 -0700
            Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) David Eather <eather@tpg.com.au> - 2011-11-03 04:00 +1000
              Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) unruh <unruh@physics.ubc.ca> - 2011-11-02 19:05 +0000
            Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) "J. Clarke" <jclarkeusenet@cox.net> - 2011-11-24 08:42 -0500
              Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) Richard Outerbridge <outer@interlog.com> - 2011-11-25 01:37 -0500
                Re: information theory? (copyright question followup) Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2011-11-25 11:37 -0600
          Re: information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-02 11:38 -0700
            Re: information theory? Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-11-03 08:51 +0000
        Re: information theory? Chris <chris.santoro@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 08:02 -0700
          Re: information theory? robert bristow-johnson <rbj@audioimagination.com> - 2011-11-02 09:38 -0700
          Re: information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-02 11:51 -0700
            Re: information theory? VWWall <vwall@large.invalid> - 2011-11-02 15:08 -0700
              Re: information theory? Richard Outerbridge <outer@interlog.com> - 2011-11-02 19:59 -0400
                Re: information theory? Frederick Williams <freddywilliams@btinternet.com> - 2011-11-04 20:41 +0000
                Re: information theory? "krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> - 2011-11-04 16:59 -0500
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-04 15:28 -0700
                Re: information theory? Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> - 2011-11-04 21:09 -0400
                Re: information theory? ggr@nope.ucsd.edu (Greg Rose) - 2011-11-05 02:11 +0000
                Re: information theory? Frederick Williams <freddywilliams@btinternet.com> - 2011-11-05 11:53 +0000
                Re: information theory? "Mike Terry" <news.dead.person.stones@darjeeling.plus.com> - 2011-11-05 17:32 +0000
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-06 18:41 -0800
              Re: information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-03 21:54 -0700
                Re: information theory? "BJACOBY@teranews.com" <benj@iwaynet.net> - 2011-11-04 03:42 -0500
                Re: information theory? "Peter Webb" <webbfamily@optusnetDIESPAMDIE.com.au> - 2011-11-04 20:33 +1100
                Re: information theory? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-04 05:10 -0500
                Re: information theory? kym@kymhorsell.com - 2011-11-04 10:50 +0000
                Re: information theory? "Peter Webb" <webbfamily@optusnetDIESPAMDIE.com.au> - 2011-11-04 22:14 +1100
                Re: information theory? "Jesse F. Hughes" <jesse@phiwumbda.org> - 2011-11-04 09:13 -0400
                Re: information theory? Spehro Pefhany <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> - 2011-11-04 10:32 -0400
                Re: information theory? "Androcles" <Headmaster@Hogwarts.physics.October.2011> - 2011-11-04 18:02 +0000
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-07 15:54 -0800
                Re: information theory? VWWall <vwall@large.invalid> - 2011-11-04 09:50 -0700
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-04 12:41 -0700
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-04 13:40 -0700
                Re: information theory? "Androcles" <Headmaster@Hogwarts.physics.October.2011> - 2011-11-04 11:35 +0000
                Re: information theory? Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-11-04 10:31 +0000
                Re: information theory? "Peter Webb" <webbfamily@optusnetDIESPAMDIE.com.au> - 2011-11-04 21:51 +1100
                Re: information theory? "BJACOBY@teranews.com" <benj@iwaynet.net> - 2011-11-04 14:18 -0500
                Re: information theory? Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> - 2011-11-04 15:56 -0400
                Re: information theory? RichD <r_delaney2001@yahoo.com> - 2011-12-21 17:49 -0800
                Re: information theory? Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2011-12-21 20:07 -0600
                Re: information theory? Richard Outerbridge <outer@interlog.com> - 2011-12-22 03:08 -0500
                Re: information theory? Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> - 2011-12-22 08:30 +0000
                Re: information theory? John Devereux <john@devereux.me.uk> - 2011-12-22 10:12 +0000
                Re: information theory? "Peter Webb" <r.peter.webbbbb@gmail.com> - 2011-12-22 21:14 +1100
                Re: information theory? "Androcles" <Headmaster@Hogwarts.physics.October.2011> - 2011-11-04 11:00 +0000
                Re: information theory? Casper H.S. Dik <Casper.Dik@OrSPaMcle.COM> - 2011-11-04 09:45 +0000
                Re: information theory? unruh <unruh@physics.ubc.ca> - 2011-11-04 19:05 +0000
              Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-06 17:11 -0800
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-07 06:23 -0800
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-07 11:29 -0800
                Re: information theory? jim <retnuh2011@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 04:41 -0800
                Re: information theory? "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> - 2011-11-08 13:46 -0500
            Re: information theory? "BJACOBY@teranews.com" <benj@iwaynet.net> - 2011-11-03 03:32 -0500
            Re: information theory? Chris <chris.santoro@gmail.com> - 2011-11-03 08:39 -0700
            Re: information theory? Chris <chris.santoro@gmail.com> - 2011-11-03 08:28 -0700

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