Valid Huffman Codes?

Question

I\'m trying to solve a Huffman Coding problem, but I\'m not completely sure I understand the topic completely. I am trying to figure out if the following are is a valid Huffman

Answer 1

No. A Huffman code is a prefix code, which means that no code can be a prefix of any other code. In your example, A is a prefix of B, and C is a prefix of both D and E.

A valid prefix code would be:

A: 0
B: 10
C: 11

That's as far as you can go with codes of length 1, 2, and 2. Any other codes would be a prefix of those. It is not possible to have a prefix code with lengths 1, 2, 2, 3, and 3.

This is a valid prefix code for five symbols:

A: 0
B: 10
C: 110
D: 1110
E: 1111

as is this:

A: 00
B: 01
C: 10
D: 110
E: 111