Course: CIS451/651 Data Compression
in Multimedia
Professor: Paul D. Amer
Semester: Spring 2009
Title: Project 3 - Java Applet for Decompression
Due Date:
Description
(20 points) In Project 0, students extended a browser's ability to decode new multimedia
types by using applications and plug-ins. Downloading and installing
applications and plug-ins burdens the user of the multimedia object.
For many Web surfers, this burden is not worth the gain of decoding a new
multimedia object. Project 3 demonstrates how to "extend" a browser,
or "market" a new multimedia type, without a burden on a user (other than
requiring a java-compatible browser.)
In this Project 3, students design an applet that decodes an amerRLE encoded
object. When a user downloads this new multimedia type, the decoding
program is downloaded along with the compressed object. Hence the
user can "see" this new multimedia type without having to first download
and install additional software into his/her browser. More specifically,
Project 3 requires students to convert their Project 2 java program into a java
applet.
Tasks
-
Program a well-commented java applet that displays an amerRLE
encoded file.
-
Integrate your amerRLE_decode program from Project 2 into an applet template
provided in EchoApplet.java
This template applet is currently designed to simply echo a file.
-
Using your decompression applet and my echo applet, design a web page on
your personal web site that is analogous to amerRLE
decompression example page.
-
My example web page contains 1 example (example.txt.ARLE).
Your page should contain
6 examples: example.txt.ARLE,
special.case1.ARLE,
special.case2.ARLE,
special.case3.ARLE,
special.case4.ARLE,
and special.case5.ARLE.
The 5 special cases will help me test your decoder.
-
WARNING: Be careful if ever you copy my 6 files to your web server.
Most file transfer programs have the annoying habit of introducing/deleting
newline characters when transferring files between Windows and Unix systems
using ASCII mode (often the default). Using ftp in "binary" mode
avoids this problem. Verify that after your transfer that the number
of bytes has NOT changed.
-
For your web page, show the 6 files both encoded and decoded with proper
headings as done in my example.
What to Turn In
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(submit) A copy of your java applet source code which incorporates your decoder.
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(submit) A copy of your html code for the amerRLE decompression example page.
-
Email me the URL of your html amerRLE decompression web page. Be sure
this page is accessible.
Notes
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Students are expected to work in groups of 2.
-
See the syllabus for the academic honesty and lateness policies.
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You may need to compile for an older JAVA version, otherwise your applet may not run in
browsers without extra bells and whistles. Use, for example,:
javac <filename> -target 1.1
-
I needed to download Sun's latest java plugin to see prior students' project
web pages. See: java.sun.com/products/plugin/