Information and its Quantification

Abstract

Information Theory is concerned with the quantification and coding of information, and Communication Theory with its transmission. Some of the basic ideas were formulated by Nyquist (1924) and by Hartley (1928), but the subject received a considerable boost during and shortly after the Second World War, largely due to Shannon, who is regarded as the founder of the modern subject (see Shannon and Weaver, 1949). Some of Shannon’s work was at first considered rather academic and impractical, but the technological developments of the last few years have changed this. Technology has caught up with information and communication, and modern developments are having great effects on our society. They may even make the writers redundant.