README.md

# Homework 1. Introduction to Python and File I/O
This homework assignment is meant to be an introduction to Python programming and introduces some basic concepts of encoding and decoding. 

Due Date: *Friday April 17, 2020 11:59 pm*

## Initial Setup
These initial setup instructions assume you've done ``hw0``. Before you start an assingment you should sync your cloned repository with the online one:
```
$ cd cmsc13600-materials
$ git pull
```

Copy the folder ``hw1`` to your newly cloned submission repository. Enter that repository from the command line and enter the copied ``hw1`` folder. In this homework assignment, you will only modify ``encoding.py``. Once you are done, you must add 'encoding.py' to git:
```
$ git add encoding.py 
```
After adding your files, to submit your code you must run:
```
$ git commit -m"My submission"
$ git push
```
We will NOT grade any code that is not added, committed, and pushed to your submission repository. You can confirm your submission by visiting the web interface[https://mit.cs.uchicago.edu/cmsc13600-spr-20/skr]

## Delta Encoding
Delta encoding is a way of storing or transmitting data in the form of differences (deltas) between sequential data rather than complete files.
In this first assignment, you will implement a delta encoding module in python.
The module will:
* Load a file of integers
* Delta encode them
* Write back a file in binary form

The instructions in this assignment are purposefully incomplete for you to read Python's API and to understand how the different functions work. All of the necessary parts that you need to write are marked with *TODO*.

## TODO 1. Loading the data file
In `encoding.py`, your first task is to write `load_orig_file`. This function reads from a specified filename and returns a list of integers in the file. You may assume the file is formatted like ``data.txt`` provided with the code, where each line contains a single integer number. The input of this function is a filename and the output is a list of numbers. If the file does not exist you must raise an exception.

## TODO 2. Compute the basic encoding
In `encoding.py`, your next task is to write `delta_encoding`. This function takes a list of numbers and computes the delta encoding. The delta encoding encodes the list in terms of successive differences from the previous element. The first element is kept as is in the encoding. 

For example:
```
> data = [1,3,4,3]
> enc = delta_encoding(data)
1,2,1,-1
```

Or, 
```
> data = [1,0,6,1]
> enc = delta_encoding(data)
1,-1,6,-5
```
Your job is to write a function that computes this encoding. Pay close attention to how python passes around references and where you make copies of lists v.s. modify a list in place.

## TODO 3. Integer Shifting
When we write this data to a file, we will want to represent each encoded value as an unsigned short integer (1 single byte of data). To do so, we have to "shift" all of the values upwards so there are no negatives. You will write a function `shift` that adds a pre-specified offset to each value. 

## TODO 4. Write Encoding
Now, we are ready to write the encoded data to disk. In the function `write_encoding`, you will do the following steps:
* Open the specified filename in the function arguments for writing
* Convert the encoded list of numbers into a bytearray 
* Write the bytearray to the file
* Close the file

Reading from such a file is a little tricky, so we've provided that function for you.

## TODO 5. Delta Decoding
Finally, you will write a function that takes a delta encoded list and recovers the original data. This should do the opposite of what you did before. Don't forget to unshift the data when you are testing!

For example:
```
> enc = [1,2,1,-1]
> data = delta_decoding(enc)
1,3,4,3
```

Or, 
```
> data = [1,-1,6,-5]
> data = delta_decoding(enc)
1,0,6,1
```

## Testing
We've provided a sample dataset ``data.txt`` which can be used to test your code as well as an autograder script `autograder.py` which runs a bunch of interesting tests. The autograder is not comprehensive but it is a good start. It's up to you to figure out what the test do and why they work.