Encoding and Decoding Methods (compared and Contrasted)
When data is encoded for any 'external' use, it is possible to do so in an almost unlimited variety of different formats that are sometimes conflicting. This content encoding (of the raw data) may be designed for:
- optimal readability – by humans
- optimal decoding speed – by other computer programs
- optimal compression – for archiving or data transmission
- optimal compatibility – with "legacy" or other existing formats or programming languages
- optimal security – using encryption
(For character level encoding, see the various encoding techniques such as EBCDIC or ASCII )
It is unlikely that all of these goals could be met with a single 'generic' encoding scheme and so a compromise will often be the desired goal and will often be compromised by the need for standardization and/or legacy and compatibility issues.
Read more about this topic: Algorithmic Efficiency
Famous quotes containing the word methods:
“The comparison between Coleridge and Johnson is obvious in so far as each held sway chiefly by the power of his tongue. The difference between their methods is so marked that it is tempting, but also unnecessary, to judge one to be inferior to the other. Johnson was robust, combative, and concrete; Coleridge was the opposite. The contrast was perhaps in his mind when he said of Johnson: “his bow-wow manner must have had a good deal to do with the effect produced.””
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)