Codes and designs -- existence and uniqueness (Q1182946)

This is a well written general survey concerning the usefulness of coding theory in proving existence and uniqueness results in design theory. The scope of the paper is limited, dealing significantly with only two examples. The coding theory aspects of the work of C. Lam, et. al. on the non-existence of a projective plane of order 10 is outlined. Also dealt with is the uniqueness of the Steiner system S(5, 8, 24) by way of the (24, 12,8) Golay code.