Date   : Thu, 05 Jun 1986 09:00:30 EDT
From   : Michael Barker <mbarker@BBNZ.ARPA>
Subject: Re: ARC vs SQ

    I'll leave it to someone else to tell you about ARC.  The SQ/UNSQ
family of programs use adaptive Huffman coding and is available (often
with source) for just about any machine.  SIMTEL20 can provide a C
version that has been deliberately aimed at portability (moving it to a
C/70 with 10-bit bytes required only some masks).  There are also
assembly language versions, Pascal, etc.  Even if you want to write your
own program, the SQ/UNSQ format has been "beat on" enough so it is
fairly solid (like XMODEM or KERMIT).  One thing to watch in picking
your implementation - Huffman coding can expand short files (due to the
table of Huffman codes).  Make sure the version you pick up checks
whether or not it is worth sqeezing the file.

    now, will someone describe ARC?
    mike

Mail:   Mike Barker
       50 Moulton Street 1/114
       Cambridge, MA 02238
phone: 1(617)497-2717       
ARPA:  mbarker@bbn-unix     UUCP:  harvard!bbnccv!mbarker