Understanding Compression

Chapter 1. Let’s Not Be Boring

Welcome to the first chapter of a book about a niche section of computing. We’re supposed to set the stage here for the entire book (that’s what the publisher says), and really hook the reader (that would be you). We’re expected to talk about history, a handful of basics, and anything else that we can do to try and ease you into the topic of compression as gently (but interestingly) as possible. Without math. Because math is hard.¹

But let’s be real, that’s boring for you to read, and for us to write.

So here’s what we’re going to do, instead. This book is about compression. And compression is all about the most compact representation of data. So, we’re going to run through this introductory stuff in the shortest, most compressed form possible.

First, we’re going to talk about buckets. Then, we’re going to introduce you to this rebel named Claude Shannon, who pretty much ruined our life while simultaneously creating every important thing that you love about computers. Finally, we are going to reveal to you the one essential thing you need to know about data compression. And without going out of our way (hardly!), we’ll make clear how compression pays off in better, cheaper, and faster apps.

Do we have a deal?

The Five Buckets of Compression Algorithms

Data compression algorithms are a really, really big space.  Fortunately, these algorithms fall into a few buckets, which makes things a lot easier to understand. To throw the words at you, they are ...