8. A system for generating a code alphabet for use by a deployed program to determine codewords for words used in a computing system, wherein the codewords have an average codeword length less than a length of the words, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: providing a first code alphabet having a first number of symbols that provide variable length codings of the words; and generating a second code alphabet having a second number of symbols formed by merging the symbols in the first code alphabet, wherein the second code alphabet comprises the code alphabet used by the deployed program.
8. A system for generating a code alphabet for use by a deployed program to determine codewords for words used in a computing system, wherein the codewords have an average codeword length less than a length of the words, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: providing a first code alphabet having a first number of symbols that provide variable length codings of the words; and generating a second code alphabet having a second number of symbols formed by merging the symbols in the first code alphabet, wherein the second code alphabet comprises the code alphabet used by the deployed program. 14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein an optimization routine selects the number of merged words to minimize the average codeword length and maximize the selected number of merged words.