A note on the minimum distance of Hermitian codes (Q1200059)

The paper completes a result of \textit{H. Stichtenoth} [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory IT--34, No. 5, Part II, 1345-1348 (1989; Zbl 0665.94015)] on the minimum distance of Hermitian codes. The author proves the following results concerning the minimum distance of \([n,m+1-(q^ 2-q)/2,d_ m]\)- codes \(C(D,G_ m)\): Theorem 1. \(d_{n-1}=d_{n-q}=q\). Theorem 2. If \(m=qr+t\) (\(0\leq t\leq q-1\)), then \(d_ m\) satisfies (i) \(n-m\leq d_ m\leq n-m+t\) if \(2q-2<m<n\), (ii) \(d_ m=n-m+t\) if \(n- q\leq m\leq n\).