Labeling A List With Unique Identifiers
A. Ross Eckler · Digital Commons @ Butler University (Butler University) · 2000
Suppose that one wishes to replace words in a list by abbreviations in order to save space. If one allows abbreviations of variable length, a very simple rule is: use as many letters as needed to ensure that a word is not confused with any other word. For example, the states Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware... can be replaced by ALAB, ALAS, ARI , ARK, CA, COL, CON, D...