quote:
Original post by LackOfKnack
---------------------------------------------------------
Original post by Anonymous Poster
--If all files were just zeroes, wouldn't that be wonderful? And how many files do you see having all zeroes just by chance? Intelligence, please, not excuses. We can't depend on chance patterns to compress random files.
---------------------------------------------------------
How many files with any other combination do you see happening by chance? If it's random, each file would occur just as often as any other file.
answer to question: extremely rarely, even with randomly generated files.
answer to statement: Huh? The chances of identical files (especially large ones) generated randomly are close to zero.
quote:
Also, in someone else's definition of a purely random file, every bit pattern of any size occurs just as frequently as any other. Is this even possible?
I think what the person is trying to say is that no particular pattern appears more than others, so compression algorithms that depend on frequency would fail.
i.e. if you use 2 bits, '00' '01' '10' and '11' should appear with the same frequency, with none of them appearing to have a statistical advantage over the others.
quote:
------------------------------------------------------
Original post by Vetinari
Well, let's see what type of file would have all zeros. Definatly not an executable. It would be an ugly picture. Zip files would never be all zeros. Not text files. No audio format would have all zeros, or 3d format. Let me reiterate my definition of a 'random file':
--------------------------------------------------------
See above.
already did.
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------
By 'random data is not compressible', we mean that every file of length n is not compressible by the same algorithm. This also means that on average, over all files of the same length, you would see no gain. End of story.
----------------------------------------------------------
How can you infer your second statement from your first? By your first, a situation where only one file is non-compressible and all others compress very well fits the statement. And that would definitely average out to a gain.
You're right, the first statement does not infer the second.
However, you are also wrong; you are infering that he is claiming that only one file can't be compressed. He didn't say that! He said that not all files can be compressed. And there are a lot more than one of them.
quote:
Furthermore, if your algorithm can see that for the particular file there is no gain, and then just doesn't compress it, then all of the files put together still average out to a gain.
Since there are a lot more than one uncompressible files, they ean easily average out to no gain statistically.
Edited by - CobraA1 on 4/26/00 12:55:38 PM
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away"--Henry David Thoreau