Efficient Implementation of the Generalized Tunstall Code Generation Algorithm

A method is presented for constructing a Tunstall code that is linear time in the number of output items. This is an improvement on the state of the art for non-Bernoulli sources, including Markov sources, which use a suboptimal generalization of Tunstall's algorithm proposed by Savari and analytically examined by Tabus and Rissanen. In general, if n is the total number of output leaves across all Tunstall trees, s is the number of trees (states), and D is the number of leaves of each internal node, then this method takes O((1+(log s)/D)n) time and O(n) space.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Michael B. Baer
• Keywords: CORR 2008, Education, Linear Time, Output Items, Tunstall Code