1. A method of encoding data for transmission from a source to a destination over a communications channel, the method comprising: generating a plurality of redundant symbols from an ordered set of input symbols to be transmitted in a deterministic process such that a first set of static symbols calculated using a first input symbol has a low common membership with a second set of static symbols calculated using a second input symbol distinct from the first input symbol; and generating a plurality of output symbols from a combined set of symbols including the input symbols and the redundant symbols, wherein the number of possible output symbols is much larger than the number of symbols in the combined set of symbols, wherein at least one output symbol is generated from more than one symbol in the combined set of symbols and from less than all of the symbols in the combined set of symbols, such that the ordered set of input symbols can be regenerated to a desired degree of accuracy from any predetermined number, N, of the output symbols.