Unit 2: Compression

Schedule

Lecture Handouts

Students who for any reason did not receive these items can pick up a copy in Room 38-344. Most of this material is also available on the 6.050J/2.110J Web site http://mtlsites.mit.edu/Courses/6.050.

• Unit 2 Resources (this page)
• Problem Set 2
• 6.050 Notes
  • Chapter 3: Compression
  • MP3 demonstration
• One-page excerpt from T. C. Bell, J. G. Cleary, and I. H. Witten, "Text Compression," Prentice-Hall, 1990. Shutter telegraph.
• MP3 overview, 3 pp.
• Six-page excerpt from JPEG FAQ
• Graphics Interchange Format (GIF87) Specification (complete, 8 pp.)
• GIF Patent Controversy
  • Statement by League for Programming Freedom
  • Two Unisys statements: License Information and Web Site LZW Licenses
• Gregory J. Chaitin, "Computers, Paradoxes and the Foundations of Mathematics," American Scientist, vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 164-171; March-April, 2002. Abstract. Chaitin invented algorithmic information theory and is probably the world's leading expert on what randomness means. This article is intended for a general scientifically-literate audience.

Reading Assignment

• Notes, Chapter 3: Compression

Resources

Laboratory

• MIT EECS MATLAB Tutorial, used in 6.003; 1999
    http://mtlsites.mit.edu/Courses/6.050/2003/notes/matlab.pdf
  (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free if you do not already have it. If you are on Athena, the reader is already installed for you.)
• MATLAB on Athena, MIT; 1998
    http://web.mit.edu/olh/Matlab/Matlab.html
• Control Tutorials for Matlab, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan; August 11, 1997
    http://www.engin.umich.edu/group/ctm/basic/basic.html

Technical

• Flag of Germany, the perfect example for run-length encoding . .
  Flag courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries, used with permission.
• Lots of data compression links
• MP3 overview, http://www.iis.fhg.de/amm/techinf/layer3/index.html
• JPEG FAQ, http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part1 (Part 1) and Part 2
• LZW and GIF explained . . site . . . another
• LZW description with example
• Another good LZW reference
• GIF Specification from W3C
• PNG, an alternative to GIF

Historical

• Geoffrey Wilson, "The Old Telegraphs," Phillimore and Co., Ltd., London and Chichester, U.K.; 1976. Describes several telegraph systems, in many countries, that predate electrical telegraphs
• Gerard J. Holzmann and Björn Pehrson, "The First Data Networks," Scientific American, vol. 270, no. 1, pp. 124-129; January, 1994. Describes French and Swedish optical telegraphs, from the 1790s
• Gerard J. Holzmann and Björn Pehrson, "The Early History of Data Networks," IEEE Computer Society Press, 304 pp.; November, 1994
• Gerard J. Holzmann and Björn Pehrson, "The Early History of Data Networks," Web site that presumably matches the book
• Tom Standage, "The Victorian Internet," Berkley Books; 1998; Chapter 1
• Unisys/Compuserve GIF Controversy
  • Statement from League for Programming Freedom
  • More general Software Patents Statement by LPF
  • Unisys statements: License info . . for Web sites
  • One person's outrage

Help Wanted

6.050J/2.110J students: be the first to suggest a resource, for example a useful Web site or a good book or article, to add to the list above. If your suggestion is accepted by the 6.050J/2.110J staff, you will get a $5 ice-cream gift certificate. Send your suggestion by e-mail during Spring 2003 to 6.050-staff at mit.edu.