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From: tnixon@hayes.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Using High Speed Modems
Message-ID: <3968.28465a5a@hayes.uucp>
Date: 31 May 91 14:14:50 GMT
References: <28675@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <6536@vela.acs.oakland.edu> <3958.283bf0b4@hayes.uucp> <8998@gollum.twg.com>
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Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA
Lines: 28

In article <8998@gollum.twg.com>, dwh@twg.com (Dave W. Hamaker)
writes: 

> tnixon@hayes.uucp writes:
> 
>>Any compression scheme will expand data that does not have enough 
>>redundancy in it, simply because of the overhead required to pass 
>>the data through the encoding scheme.  This can happen if the data 
>>is pre-compressed, or simply random by nature (e.g., object code).
> 
> This is really an aside, but I'd like to point out that object code is
> not random.  We tend to think of it in those terms simply because it is
> not designed for direct consumption by people; we just imagine it looks
> like random jiberish when we make a mental picture of object code as
> byte stream.  In my experience, object code compresses quite well.

Of course you're right.  It doesn't compress as well as text, but 
depending on the source language and compiler you will see a lot of 
instructions used frequently (particular short jumps) that do indeed 
compress well.  There are other types of files that aren't intended 
for human consumption that also compress extremely well, such as 
spreadsheets and dBase files (lots of filler).

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-840-9200  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
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