Information Theory after 18 Years

Abstract

The aspect of modern information theory is presented which relates to explicit coding systems intended to signal at high rates. More theoretical parts of the subject are omitted. Information theory is a very active area of investigation in the U. S. S. R., but there the emphasis is on mathematical results. As an engineering subject, information theory gave promise of improved communications systems. Experimental systems which use some of the new codes have been tested, and some coders and decoders are now commercially available. They may be in widespread use in a few years.