Algorithms For Dummies

 

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Shrinking character encoding: Compression forces characters to use fewer 

bits by coding them according to some feature, such as commonality of use. 

For example, if you use only some of the characters in a character set, you can 

reduce the number of bits to reflect that level of usage. It’s the same differ-

ence that occurs between ASCII, which uses 7 bits, and extended ASCII, which 

uses 8 bits. This solution is particularly effective with problems like DNA 

encoding, in which you can devise a better encoding than the standard one.