Dictionary-symbolwise flexible parsing

Linear-time optimal parsing algorithms are rare in the dictionary-based branch of the data compression theory. A recent result is the Flexible Parsing algorithm of Matias and Sahinalp (1999) that works when the dictionary is prefix closed and the encoding of dictionary pointers has a constant cost. We present the Dictionary-Symbolwise Flexible Parsing algorithm that is optimal for prefix-closed dictionaries and any symbolwise compressor under some natural hypothesis. In the case of LZ78-like algorithms with variable costs and any, linear as usual, symbolwise compressor we show how to implement our parsing algorithm in linear time. In the case of LZ77-like dictionaries and any symbolwise compressor our algorithm can be implemented in O(nlogn) time. We further present some experimental results that show the effectiveness of the dictionary-symbolwise approach. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.