Introduction

Abstract

The chapter deals with an overview of error coding, not especially in terms of what’s been achieved over the years or what is the current state of the subject, but in pragmatic terms of what’s underneath it that makes it work. The maths which surrounds error coding serves two key purposes; one, it shows us what can theoretically be achieved by error coding and what we might reasonable have to do to get there and, two, it provides mechanisms for implementing practical coding schemes. Both of these aspects are, without doubt daunting for anyone whose principal background is not maths yet, for the engineer who needs to implement error coding, many of the practical aspects of error coding are tractable.