Editing Theoretical computer science (section)

===Information theory===
{{main|Information theory}}
[[Information theory]] is a branch of [[applied mathematics]], [[electrical engineering]], and [[computer science]] involving the [[Quantification (science)|quantification]] of [[information]].  Information theory was developed by [[Claude E. Shannon]] to find fundamental limits on [[signal processing]] operations such as [[data compression|compressing data]] and on reliably [[Computer data storage|storing]] and [[Telecommunications|communicating]] data. Since its inception it has broadened to find applications in many other areas, including [[statistical inference]], [[natural language processing]], [[cryptography]], [[neurobiology]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=F. Rieke |author2=D. Warland |author3=R Ruyter van Steveninck |author4=W Bialek |title=Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code|publisher=The MIT press|year=1997|isbn=978-0262681087}}</ref> the evolution<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Huelsenbeck | first1=J. P. |first2=F. |last2=Ronquist|first3=R. |last3=Nielsen |first4=J. P. |last4=Bollback| title=Bayesian Inference of Phylogeny and Its Impact on Evolutionary Biology | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=294 | issue=5550 | date=2001-12-14 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.1065889 | pages=2310–2314| pmid=11743192 | bibcode=2001Sci...294.2310H | s2cid=2138288 }}</ref> and function<ref>Rando Allikmets, Wyeth W. Wasserman, Amy Hutchinson, Philip Smallwood, Jeremy Nathans, Peter K. Rogan, [http://alum.mit.edu/www/toms/ Thomas D. Schneider], Michael Dean (1998) Organization of the ABCR gene: analysis of promoter and splice junction sequences, ''Gene'' '''215''':1, 111–122</ref> of molecular codes, [[model selection]] in statistics,<ref>Burnham, K. P. and Anderson D. R. (2002) ''Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach, Second Edition'' (Springer Science, New York) {{isbn|978-0-387-95364-9}}.</ref> thermal physics,<ref>{{cite journal | last=Jaynes | first=E. T. | title=Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics | journal=[[Physical Review]] | publisher=American Physical Society (APS) | volume=106 | issue=4 | date=1957-05-15 | issn=0031-899X | doi=10.1103/physrev.106.620 | pages=620–630| bibcode=1957PhRv..106..620J | s2cid=17870175 }}</ref> [[quantum computing]], [[linguistics]], plagiarism detection,<ref>Charles H. Bennett, Ming Li, and Bin Ma (2003) [http://sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=08B64096-0772-4904-9D48227D5C9FAC75 Chain Letters and Evolutionary Histories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007041539/http://sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=08B64096-0772-4904-9D48227D5C9FAC75 |date=2007-10-07 }}, ''Scientific American'' '''288''':6, 76–81</ref> [[pattern recognition]], [[anomaly detection]] and other forms of [[data analysis]].<ref>
{{Cite web
 |author      = David R. Anderson
 |title       = Some background on why people in the empirical sciences may want to better understand the information-theoretic methods
 |date        = November 1, 2003
 |url         = http://aicanderson2.home.comcast.net/~aicanderson2/home.pdf
 |access-date  = 2010-06-23
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723045720/http://aicanderson2.home.comcast.net/~aicanderson2/home.pdf
 |archive-date = July 23, 2011
}}
</ref>

Applications of fundamental topics of information theory include [[lossless data compression]] (e.g. [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP files]]), [[lossy data compression]] (e.g. [[MP3]]s and [[JPEG]]s), and [[channel capacity|channel coding]] (e.g. for [[DSL|Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)]]).  The field is at the intersection of [[mathematics]], [[statistics]], [[computer science]], [[physics]], [[neurobiology]], and [[electrical engineering]]. Its impact has been crucial to the success of the [[Voyager program|Voyager]] missions to deep space, the invention of the compact disc, the feasibility of mobile phones, the development of the [[Internet]], the study of [[linguistics]] and of human perception, the understanding of [[black hole]]s, and numerous other fields. Important sub-fields of information theory are [[source coding]], [[channel coding]], [[algorithmic complexity theory]], [[algorithmic information theory]], [[information-theoretic security]], and measures of information.