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Sardinas–Patterson algorithm
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Coding_theory/SBqStoGL">coding theory</a>, the Sardinas–Patterson algorithm is a classical algorithm for determining in <a href="/facts/Polynomial_time/77T62gmf">polynomial time</a> whether a given <a href="/facts/Variable-length_code/DImYG6eg">variable-length code</a> is uniquely decodable, named after August Albert Sardinas and George W. Patterson, who published it in 1953. The algorithm carries out a systematic search for a string which admits two different decompositions into codewords. As <a href="/facts/Donald_Knuth/GozNzDM6">Knuth</a> reports, the algorithm was rediscovered about ten years later in 1963 by <a href="/facts/Robert_W._Floyd/sTFRb3TH">Floyd</a>, despite the fact that it was at the time already well known in coding theory. </p>