# Pithos: The same message, far fewer bits

> A complete Huffman pipeline (frequencies → tree → canonical codes → encode/decode) plus Shannon entropy, all pure. 13 tests, including the prefix-free property and the average-code-length ∈ [H, H+1) Shannon bound.

Pithos is a data-compression demo that implements a complete Huffman coding pipeline from scratch: counting symbol frequencies, building the tree, deriving canonical codes, and encoding and decoding. It also computes Shannon entropy, which makes it a hands-on look at the information-theory limits the coder approaches. It is a from-scratch, dependency-light build - 13 tests include the prefix-free property and the average-code-length being within the [H, H+1) Shannon bound - that you can download and run locally.

## About the app

Data compression + information theory

## What to take away

- A complete Huffman pipeline (frequencies → tree → canonical codes → encode/decode) plus Shannon entropy, all pure. 13 tests, including the prefix-free property and the average-code-length ∈ [H, H+1) Shannon bound.
- Download: Pithos (ZIP)

## Tags

Free software, Pithos

## Read the full write-up

/downloads/pithos.zip

## We build this for clients

https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/services/full-stack

## More from the lab

- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/lab/sylex.md — Sylex: Make sense of the slashes
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/lab/kindra.md — Kindra: Miss a beat, not the rhythm
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/lab/voxara.md — Voxara: Argue better. Lose gracefully
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/lab/wraithward.md — Wraithward: Spot the bait before you bite

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Source: https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/lab/pithos
DField Solutions — Torony köz 5-1.a, 2120 Dunakeszi, Hungary — +36 20 722 0002 — dezso@dfieldsolutions.com
Booking: see https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/contact