Compression: Strong Connection and Prefix-Free Codes

This lecture discusses the strong connection between the length associated with a code word and the concept of prefix-free codes. It explores how the length of a code word is related to the probability distribution of the source. The lecture delves into designing prefix-free codes based on given distributions, emphasizing the importance of mapping the source probabilities to the code lengths. It also covers the concept of excess bits needed for encoding based on the probability distribution. The lecture concludes with examples illustrating the application of prefix-free codes in compression and the design considerations for efficient encoding.