21. Greedy Algorithms: Huffman Codes
This chapter explores the concept of Huffman Codes in the context of greedy algorithms. It outlines the importance of variable-length encoding to optimize data transmission by assigning shorter codes to more frequently used letters. The discussion includes how code ambiguity can be avoided through prefix codes, as well as the statistical frequency of letter occurrences to achieve optimal encoding.
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What we have learnt
- Variable-length encoding allows for more efficient data representation compared to fixed-length encoding.
- Prefix codes provide a way to ensure unambiguous decodable messages.
- Huffman coding minimizes the average bit length of encoded messages through frequency analysis.
Key Concepts
- -- VariableLength Encoding
- A coding scheme where different symbols or letters are represented by strings of different lengths, contrary to fixed-length coding.
- -- Prefix Code
- A type of code where no code is a prefix of another, ensuring that encoded messages can be uniquely decoded.
- -- Huffman Coding
- An algorithm used to find optimal prefix codes by assigning shorter codes to more frequent letters based on their occurrence frequency.
- -- Frequency Analysis
- The process of determining the frequency of each letter in a body of text to create efficient encoding schemes.
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