Unary Coding

Unary coding is the optimal code for the probabilities 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc...

n (non-negative)	n (strictly positive)	Unary code	Alternative
0	1	0	1
1	2	10	01
2	3	110	001
3	4	1110	0001
4	5	11110	00001
5	6	111110	000001
6	7	1111110	0000001
7	8	11111110	00000001
8	9	111111110	000000001
9	10	1111111110	0000000001

Code Example

void write_Unary(unsigned value) 
{
    write_bits(0, value);
    write_bits(1, 1);
}

unsigned read_Unary() 
{
    unsigned value = 0;
    do {
        ++value;
    } while(!read_bits(1));
    return value;
}