Talk:Zipping (computer science)

Nevermind if you could not understand the notations because nobody understands those compact math definition at all


 * I think some (technically) oriented people would understand it better if it was explained in terms of [regular expressions]. I think I'm right, although the formula given looks a bit odd or off. (What does "n" have to do with anything?) I'm assuming "#" is taken to be the null string. The convolution of the words  and, fish, be in regex form is


 * (a|f|b)(n|i|e)(d|s|)(|h|)


 * thus some words formed from this are "andh", "bish", "beh" (be#h => beh), "an", "aid", etc.


 * BTW, all this is memory from my formal language theory class a few years ago, so take warning. Root4(one) 20:28, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I have never heard "convolution" used in this sense, although I know it well as a "zip" in functional programming. Can anyone provide references for this use? Ezrakilty (talk) 04:29, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

to map into?
In the context of functions, I have never heard of or read the expression to map into. I know map to and maps that are onto (that's surjectivity), but not map into. Is that correct usage? --84.177.81.254 (talk) 17:19, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Don Knuth uses the phrase a mapping from a set into the nonnegative integers (TAOCP Vol. II, 3rd. Ed., p. 694), so perhaps it's ok to use to map into as well. --84.177.86.232 (talk) 17:35, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Someone needs to put it into plain language
The one thing thats not even referred to is "Why would someone do this?"

From what I can tell, there are "n" variables containing strings, and the number of characters in the longest string is "m". A table of n * m characters is formed. Each row in the table is one of the original words, with the blank spaces at the end being replaced with non-printing, or control, characters (represented by #'s). This table is then partitioned into different strings, on a column-by-column basis.

i.e. - where the words are "a, an, and"

the table is
 * a##
 * an#
 * and

The first column is: aaa, the second is #nn, and the third is ##d.195.59.43.240 (talk) 12:16, 7 September 2012 (UTC)


 * It doesn't have to be strings. For example, if you have a list of names and a list of corresponding phone numbers, you can use a convolution to generate a dictionary/hashtable from the two lists, mapping the names to the numbers. Equinox ◑ 12:03, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

.NET missing from language comparison
As of .NET 4, LINQ supports a Zip method. This is available in C# and presumably the various other .NET languages. Equinox ◑ 12:03, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

This sounds suspiciously like transposition
So this sounds like a matrix transpose, I'm not sure where we're getting the name convolution from. Ethanpet113 (talk) 02:40, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

"Convolution (formal languages)" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Convolution (formal languages). The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 November 27 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Macrakis (talk) 17:01, 27 November 2021 (UTC)