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Error correcting codes are one of the coolest things you can do with math. In general learning math is important for the knowledge buzz moments and the general

Error correcting codes are one of the coolest things you can do with math. In general learning math is important for the knowledge buzz moments and the general "tooling for thought" but all of these are a little abstract and hard to "sell." With coding theory, we have much more practical selling points: learn math so you can understant GSM, 3G, LTE, 5G, 6G,... Wifi, ..., satellite comms, storage like CDs, DVDs, BlueRay, HDs, etc. The linked book is pretty good with lots of nice explanations and good examples. For a short, blog-post-like intro to the subject check out this 9-page PDF: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/error_correcting_codes.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/error_correcting_c... Read the linked book for the full details.

triyambakam 6y ago
I really appreciate you sharing this. After a few years in the industry but without a CS degree I've been going through the teachyourselfcs curriculum. I hadn't come across coding theory yet. Where should I start if a lot of the math symbols in your link are lost on me? I know I've used them years ago but I've forgotten.
- henrikeh 6y ago
  A lot of the notation in coding theory is drawn from set theory, like ∈ (set membership). Which, more specifically are you confused about?
- ivan_ah 6y ago
  Here is the Notation appendix from my LA book https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/notation_appendix.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/notation_appendix.... for your reference, and another excerpt with basic info about about using set notation https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf If you plan to read the book by Guruswami, Rudra1, and Sudan you should consult their notation: https://cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/atri/courses/coding-theory/book/web-coding-book.pdf#page=343 https://cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/atri/courses/coding-theory/b... For most types of symbols you can figure out what they mean intuitively, but these two are really important, and not obvious at all: (n,k,d) ≝ code with block length n, dimension k, distance d [n,k,d] ≝ a linear code with block length n, dimension k, distance d
  - triyambakam 6y ago
    Thank you, that's a huge help!

triyambakam 6y ago

I really appreciate you sharing this. After a few years in the industry but without a CS degree I've been going through the teachyourselfcs curriculum. I hadn't come across coding theory yet. Where should I start if a lot of the math symbols in your link are lost on me? I know I've used them years ago but I've forgotten.

henrikeh 6y ago
A lot of the notation in coding theory is drawn from set theory, like ∈ (set membership). Which, more specifically are you confused about?
ivan_ah 6y ago
Here is the Notation appendix from my LA book https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/notation_appendix.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/notation_appendix.... for your reference, and another excerpt with basic info about about using set notation https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/set_notation.pdf If you plan to read the book by Guruswami, Rudra1, and Sudan you should consult their notation: https://cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/atri/courses/coding-theory/book/web-coding-book.pdf#page=343 https://cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/atri/courses/coding-theory/b... For most types of symbols you can figure out what they mean intuitively, but these two are really important, and not obvious at all: (n,k,d) ≝ code with block length n, dimension k, distance d [n,k,d] ≝ a linear code with block length n, dimension k, distance d
- triyambakam 6y ago
  Thank you, that's a huge help!