Re: A85: The possible


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Re: A85: The possible




Umm, yes, you can.  You can zip a single file.  If the file is very small (I
don't remember how much, but I think it's around 100 bytes) then usually the
header added to the file will take up more space than is saved, but anything
over that and you will almost always save space.

I haven't studied it for the 85, but I know that it is very possible on the
86 (some of use are working on it now).  One LZSS compression/decompression
module, Bloat by Matthew Shepcar, is a little over 800 bytes.  A program
that utilized this would not have to be more than 300 to 500 bytes, making a
compression and decompression program under 1.5k.  Such a program could
compress multiple variables into one string, allowing for easy storage.  The
problem with doing it on the 85 is the lack of temporary storage.  You have
to have enough room for the decompressed variables before you can decompress
them.  (the 86 has a free 16k ram page plus an 8k asm execution area, so
this is not a problem on it)

-----Original Message-----
From: PXGray@aol.com <PXGray@aol.com>
To: assembly-85@lists.ticalc.org <assembly-85@lists.ticalc.org>
Date: Friday, November 06, 1998 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: A85: The possible


>
>In a message dated 11/5/98 11:05:03 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
>jgwarner@wesnet.com writes:
>
>> And lastly, hey Dines Justesen, have you ever tried to zip a zipped
>>  file? I can tell you now it doesn't work, so niether does your little
>>  formula, so you're already wrong! That argument it over!
>
>You can zip a zipped file, you just have to have another file with it.  You
>can't zip a single file, no matter how big it is.  The compression rate is
>awful anyway.