Near-MDS codes over some small fields (Q1970700)

A linear \([n,k]_q\) code \(C\) is said to be near-MDS if \(d_i(C)=n-k+i\), \(i=2,3,\dots,k\), \(d_1(C)=n-k\), where \(d_r(C)\) denotes the \(r\)-th generalized Hamming weight of \(C\). In the paper under review the problem of finding the maximum possible length \(m^\prime (k,q)\) of a near-MDS code is considered. The exact values of \(m^\prime (k,q)\), \(q=2,3,4,5\) are obtained and some results on near-MDS codes in larger fields are given.