How are data represented in a computer (and who cares)? - The Tao of Computing - page 61

2. Display the Web page http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~walker/ in
your browser, and then display its source.
a. Find the line specifying the META data used, and deter
mine what character encoding is being used.
b. Use your browser menu options to change the encoding
used, and describe what happens.
c. Find a page on the Web that does not have a META data
specifier, and try to determine what alphabet or character
set your browser uses.
3. This chapter describes several common techniques for reduc
ing the size of files that store graphical images: color tables,
font tables, shape tables, drawing commands, data averaging
and sampling, and data compression. The chapter also dis
cusses three file formats: GIF, PostScript, and JPEG. Generate
a table, with file formats across the top and size reduction
techniques down the side. Then fill in the table to indicate
which techniques are used with which formats.
4. Consider the pictures given in Figures 2.4 and 2.5. In each
case, determine which file format(s) might be used most effec
tively for the storage of the image.
Figure 2.4
Multiple cloudtoground and cloudtocloud lightning strikes during nighttime. Observed dur
ing nighttime thunderstorm. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nsll/nssl0010.htm
Credit: C. Clark, NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms
Laboratory (NSSL) in public domain: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/aboutimages.html