Information Theory: 50 Years of Discovery

This book is a collection of tutorial and retrospective papers on key subjects from communications, signal processing, computer science, probability and statistics and, of course, information theory. The authors are all major contributors to the subjects about which they have written, and many are pioneers in their respective fields. The topics range from the practical (data and image compression, error control coding, data storage, detection and estimation, coded modulation, quantum computing, and wavelets) to the more theoretical (minimum description principle and zero-error information theory). One of the great strengths of this book is the comprehensive collection ofreferences. We anticipate that this book will be of use to both academic and industry researchers and engineers alike. In academics, these papers can be launching points for new students as well as discussion references for courses in coding and information theory.

The articles in this book originally appeared in October 1998 as a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. This special issue commemorated the 50th anniversary of Claude Shannon's original 1948 paper that singlehandedly started information theory. Sergio Verdu edited the issue and did a splendid job commissioning and gathering the 25 papers in that issue. The Information Theory Society decided to reprint this issue because they believe researchers in communications, signal processing, and computing will find the tutorial papers interesting and vital to introducing themselves, colleagues, and students to the topics addressed.

On the Role of Pattern Matching in Information Theory
Fifty Years of Shannon Theory
The Interactions Between Ergodic Theory and Information Theory
Information-Theoretic Image Formation
Universal Prediction
Reliable Communication Under Channel Uncertainty
Learning Pattern Classification-A Survey
Zero-Error Information Theory
Detection of Stochastic Processes
Codes for Digital Recorders
Statistical Inference Under Multiterminal Data Compression
Quantization
Modulation and Coding for Linear Gaussian Channels
Information Theory and Communication Networks: An Unconsummated Union
Data Compression and Harmonic Analysis
Association Schemes and Coding Theory
The Method of Types
Comments on Broadcast Channels
Applications of Error-Control Coding
The Art of Signaling: Fifty Years of Coding Theory
Algebraic-Geometry Codes
Fading Channels: Information-Theoretic and Communications Aspects
Lossy Source Coding
Quantum Information Theory
The Minimum Description Length Principle in Coding and Modeling