''Acme Commodity and Phrase Code'' is a
codebook
A codebook is a type of document used for gathering and storing cryptography codes. Originally, codebooks were often literally , but today "codebook" is a byword for the complete record of a series of codes, regardless of physical format.
Cr ...
providing the general-purpose
commercial telegraph code known as the ''Acme Code''. It was published in 1923 by the Acme Code Company. The book provides a listing of condensed terms and
codes
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ch ...
used to shorten
telegrams
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
and save money. The book was extremely popular amongst businesses in the 1930s. This code was one of the few telegram codes permitted by the Allied powers during the Second World War.
Description
The ''Acme'' code consists of one hundred thousand five letter codes each intended to stand in for a phrase. It was designed to be tolerant of
transposition errors; the author claims that "no transposition of any two adjoining letters will make another word in the book". However, as later discovered by J. Reeds, the code did not provide this level of error correction, containing at least eleven pairs of words differing only by the transposition of two letters.
Despite these errors, this code is a precursor to more modern
error correction codes
In computing, telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, forward error correction (FEC) or channel coding is a technique used for controlling errors in data transmission over unreliable or noisy communication channels.
The centra ...
.
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References
External links
Acme Commodity and Phrase Codeat Internet Archive
1923 non-fiction books
Telegraphy
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