Error-Correcting Codes and Finite Fields

This student edition is an unabridged reprint of Chapters 1-20 of the original hardback edition. The material on albegraic geometry and geometric Goppa codes, which is not part of a standard introductory course on coding theory, has been omitted. The book starts with the elementary ideas of parity check codes and goes on to explain the theory of finite fields, BCH and Reed-Solomon codes. All the necessary mathematics is developed in parallel with the applications. While not sacrificing rigour, the author has been at pains to provide a simple step-by-step approach based on worked examples.