MDS array codes for correcting a single criss-cross error

We present a family of Maximum-Distance Separable (MDS) array codes of size (p - 1) x (p - 1), p a prime number, and minimum criss-cross distance 3, i .e., the code is capable of correcting any row of column in error, without a priori knowledge of what type of error occurred, The complexity of the en coding and decoding algorithms is lower than that of known codes with the s ame error-correcting power since our algorithms are based on exclusive-OR o perations over lines of different slopes, as opposed to algebraic operation s over a finite field. We also provide efficient encoding and decoding algo rithms for errors and erasures.