New results on codes with covering radius 1 and minimum distance \(2\) (Q1781002)

The minimum possible cardinality of a \(q\)-ary code of length \(n\) and covering radius \(R\) (and minimum distance \(d\)) is denoted by \(K_q(n,R)\) (respectively \(K_q(n,R,d)\)). In the paper under review the authors consider the first (in lexicographic order with respect to \((n,q)\)) case where the inequality in \(K_q(n,R,d) \geq K_q(n,R)\) is strict. Namely, they proved that \(K_4(4,1,2)=28\) while one has \(K_4(4,1)=24\). The nonexistence result for cardinality 24 is combinatorial and the others are computational.