Boebert.SCOMP%mit-multics@sri-unix.UUCP (06/14/83)
Anybody have a good reference for data compression algorithms for English language text? I hope to avoid having to pick through the SQ/USQ source or engage in other essays into rediscovery.
GZ%mit-mc@sri-unix.UUCP (06/15/83)
From: Gail Zacharias <GZ@mit-mc> Pick up any book on information theory, look in the index under Huffman. Also look for Markov, which gives better results than straight Huffman coding for text, although it's more difficult to implement on a micro due to the large frequency tables needed. (I have implementations (Z80 and PDP-10) for first order Markov Huffman coding which consistently give 50% compression on text files).