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Ok, no. Whatever it is, not everyone is going to agree.
But whatever. Let's try to agree, with as many people as possible, that bit-by-bit decoding of Huffman codes is stupid, unnecessarily inefficient, and nothing more than a stepping stone leading to decoding algorithms that are actually useful in practice.
It's not even necessary as a stepping stone, really.
OK, it's sort of silly that it bothers me so much, but it does. Teaching people only the bit-by-bit algorithm and pretending it's The Huffman Decoding Algorithm is like teaching people only about bubble sort, calling it "The Sorting Algorithm", and ignoring the existence of all other sorting algorithms. It's like ordering a pizza and not eating it. It's like buying a fast car and driving it the way your grandmother would. It's like drinking American "coffee" for all your life and never trying Real Coffee.
Let's put an end to it. Whenever someone asks about Huffman decoding, 0) ideally, don't even mention the bit-by-bit algorithm, 1) do mention table-based decoding (there are several flavours of it, take your pick). If you're writing a book/article/blog/whatever, maybe start with the bit-by-bit algorithm, but then be sure to move on to more practical algorithms, or at least mention their existence.
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OK, Breath in...hold it...hold it...and release. 
You seem a touch upset about this: has someone been Hoffmanning in QA or something?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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No, they've been doing it on That Other Site
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What!
That Other Site[^]!
Or are you being tempted to the Dark Pompous Arrogant Side...
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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But the Dark Side has cookies..
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Ooooo! Do they have Chocolate Chips in?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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Absolutely. Dark chocolate chip.
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Tempting. Very tempting.
But...the Light side has Doughnuts. Fresh Jam doughnuts[^].
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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harold aptroot wrote: It's like drinking American "coffee" for all your life and never trying Real
Coffee
You're obviously trying to start an argument, while pretending you want everyone to get a long.
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How dare he insult my coffee!  ![Java | [Coffee]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
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I'm afraid all Mercan Coffee has been forever tainted by Clusterbucks and their vile dark water. Going to Seattle's Finest [sic] for a coffee is like going to prison for sex, you'll get what you asked for but you sure as hell wont like it.
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...and somehow there's bux (our knickname for Starbucks) all over Europe now...lol
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Huffman coding is kind of cool and the bit method does a lot of useful things in teaching the fundamental theories related to Data Structures and Algorithms. It is a teaching tool. The fact that so many fail to grasp it and need "code plz" shouldn't diminish it.
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So start with it then, and use it for what it actually is: a stepping stone. Not the end of the road.
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harold aptroot wrote: It's like drinking American "coffee" for all your life and never trying Real Coffee
Well, it could be Canadian coffee. You know, where they quickly drag a bean through some hot water.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Umm i Canadian and let me assure its too damn cold to do anything slowly even if its dragging a bean through some hot water.
Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!
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Huffman Decoding is settled science, please discuss this no further. You are a Huffman denier, shame on you...
Winzip a useful tool saving lots of disk space and reducing disk costs that can now be spent on feeding children and housing the poor.
Your denial of Huffman makes the children hungry and and the poor homeless.
You are also a Winzip denier as well, shame, shame shame.
---
modified 27-Feb-14 11:27am.
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I'm pretty sure I'm also burning polar bears, drinking orphan tears, and invading Poland 
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As long as you're not clubbing seal pups, you're fine.
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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Except those that really need clubbing, that is!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Or if you just take them out to party, as in a seal walks into a club... 
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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harold aptroot wrote: Ok, no. Whatever it is, not everyone is going to agree.
True.
But if we get enough people to agree, we'll be able to kill the others.
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That's the spirit!
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I'm refactoring my electronic component organizer application and I have been asked to add a location feature but not sure what would be useful.
I'm thinking just a free form TextBox input but maybe some of the genius's here can think of something that would be more useful?
Any ideas would be appreciated...oh and send the Codz pls!
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OK: CodZ[^]
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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