Incremental encoding: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Incremental encoding, also known as front compression or back compression, is a type of delta encoding compression algorithm whereby common prefixes or suffixes and their lengths are recorded so that they need not be duplicated. This algorithm is particularly well-suited for compressing sorted data, e.g., a list of words from a dictionary.

For example:

myxa
myxophyta
myxopod
nab
nabbed
nabbing
nabit
nabk
nabob
nacarat
nacelle

no preceding word
myx
myxop
no common prefix
nab
nabb
nab
nab
nab
na
nac

0 myxa
3 ophyta
5 od
0 nab
3 bed
4 ing
3 it
3 k
3 ob
2 carat
3 elle