LZExpand - Data Decompression library functions


4.42. LM - Lan Manager interface unit	Table of Contents	4.44. MAPI - Messaging Applications Programming Interface unit

- 4.43. - Table of Contents

4. Standard Units

4.43. LZExpand - Data Decompression library functions

Targets: Win32 only

This module provides the interface to the data decompression functions in LZEXPAND.DLL.

About the Data Decompression Library:
The Microsoft^® Windows^® operating system includes a dynamic-link library (DLL) named LZEXPAND.DLL. Typically, an application calls functions in LZEXPAND.DLL to decompress data previously compressed by using the Microsoft File Compression Utility (COMPRESS.EXE).

Data Decompression:
Data compression is an operation that reduces the size of a file by minimizing redundant data. In a file that contains text, redundant data can be frequently occurring characters, such as the space character, or common vowels, such as the letters e and a; it can also be frequently occurring character strings. Data compression creates a compressed version of a file by minimizing this redundant data.

Each type of data-compression algorithm minimizes redundant data in a unique manner. For example, the Huffman encoding algorithm assigns a code to characters in a file based on how frequently those characters occur. Another compression algorithm, called run-length encoding, generates a two-part value for repeated characters: the first part specifies the number of times the character is repeated, and the second part identifies the character. Another compression algorithm, known as the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, converts variable-length strings into fixed-length codes that consume less space than the original strings.

To compress large applications or data files, you can run COMPRESS.EXE from the command line. COMPRESS.EXE uses the Lempel-Ziv compression algorithm.

For more info look the "Data Decompression Library" in WIN32.HLP.


4.42. LM - Lan Manager interface unit	Table of Contents	4.44. MAPI - Messaging Applications Programming Interface unit

- 4.43. -