Prefix code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:18, 18 October 2005

Revision as of 20:22, 1 November 2005

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A '''prefix code''', also known as a '''prefix-free code''', '''comma-free code''' or '''instantaneous code''', is a [[code]] constructed so that dividing the code word into two pieces cannot result in the first being a code word. For example, the set {010,011,0,101} is not a prefix code because the entry '0' is the prefix of the entries 010 and 011. Hence, when receiving in series, 0101101, how do you know if it means 0,101,101 or 010,110,0, and so on. However, {01,101,110,0010} is a prefix code, because no entry is the start of any other entry.