code


Let A be an alphabet. A code over A is any subset C of the set of words A* on the alphabet A such that C has “uniquue factorization into letters,” i.e., such that for whenever a1an=b1bm, with all ai,bjC, then we have n=m and ai=bi for all i. In other words, every “word over A” generated by C (considered as an alphabet) can be uniquely factored into “letters” in C.

An example of a subset of A* which is not a code is given by C={ab,c,a,bc}. Here the word abc can be written either as (ab)c or as a(bc) in terms of elements of C. Since aba nor cbc, C is not a code.

If we fix a length n for the words, i.e. we require that CAn, then we call C a block code, and call n the block length of the code. An important property of a code is the code’s minimum distance, given by the minimum Hamming distanceMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath between any pair of words in C.

This notion of code is obviously very general. In practice (i.e., in coding theory) one typically takes codes with a little more structure. See, in particular, linear codesMathworldPlanetmath.

Title code
Canonical name Code
Date of creation 2013-03-22 14:21:21
Last modified on 2013-03-22 14:21:21
Owner mathcam (2727)
Last modified by mathcam (2727)
Numerical id 9
Author mathcam (2727)
Entry type Definition
Classification msc 68P05
Classification msc 68P30
Defines code
Defines block length
Defines minimum distance