Re: LZ: Compression and patents
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At 08:10 PM 9/11/96 -0400, you wrote:
>In regards to LZW compression vs. arithmetic:
>
>I believe that LZW is no longer patented. I think Microsoft actually uses
>it in the real-time compression interface in DOS 6 and later.
>
>Arithmetic, however, I *know* is still patented--which is why the MRCI
>doesn't use it, even though it is a better algorithm.
>
>BTW--no algorithm works very well for code. I'd say 20 percent compression
>would be very good. This means that this whole project might not have much
>in the way of usable results! However, you might prove me wrong--I'd love
>to see it. Plus, it would be a great learning experience!
>
The learning experience is one of my main reasons (just tally up another
language I know 8-).
I know PKZIP's compression is pretty good, but I just got an average of
35-40% compression on most of my string files! I also know that PKZIP is
probably a big algorithm, so I am NOT considering using it on the
calculator. Maybe these string files are not so random?
-- Scott Rein
srein@rain.org
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