Huffman Compressor

This is a simple tool written in Java for compressing effectively file directories using Huffman approach. Gui made with Swing and improved with FlatLaf.

Description

The application is a graphical interface that allows to work with file directories including the possibility:

• Compress directories using Huffman coding.
• Decompress previously compressed directories.
• Command-line interface for easy use.

Technology

The following technologies were used in the project:

• Java 17
• Swing API
• FlatLaf 3.1.1

Requirements

• Java: This application requires Java JDK 8 or higher. Ensure you have it installed by running:

  java -version

• Maven: (Optional) If you wish to build the project from source, Maven is recommended for dependency management.

Installation

1. Clone the Repository

You can clone the repository to your local machine using Git. Open a terminal and run:

git clone https://github.com/Dev1Art/huffman-compressor.git
cd huffman-compressor

2. Build the Project

If you have Maven installed, you can build the project by running:

mvn clean package

This will compile the project and create a JAR file in the target directory.

3. Directly Download JAR (Optional)

If you prefer not to build the project yourself, you can download the latest JAR file from the target directory after building, or you can provide a link to a pre-built JAR file if available.

Usage

1. Command Line Interface

You can use the application via the command line. Here’s how:

Compressing a File

To compress a text file, use the following command:

java -jar target/huffman-compressor.jar compress <input_dir> <output_dir>

• <input_dir>: The path to the directory you want to compress.
• <output_dir>: The path where you want to save the compressed file .huff.

Decompressing a File

To decompress a previously compressed directory, run:

java -jar target/huffman-compressor.jar decompress <input_dir> <output_dir>

• <input_dir>: The path to the directory of the compressed file.
• <output_dir>: The path where you want to save the decompressed directory.

2. Tests

You can find some directories for in-place tests in test_cases zip archive. So before the tests you should unpack it. Here is the example how you can test it:

Compress:

java -jar target/huffman-compressor.jar compress BIG_PACK SAVES

Decompress:

java -jar target/huffman-compressor.jar decompress SAVES SAVES

Check that dir_to_decompressed matches the content of dir_to_compress.

Credits

Thanks to DanielDFY for his Huffman implementation that I used in my project. His work at https://github.com/DanielDFY/Huffman.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you would like to contribute, please fork the repository and make a pull request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.