alamb commented on code in PR #557:
URL: https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/pull/557#discussion_r3623805056


##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +375,518 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual vectors and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview

Review Comment:
   It seems we should do this as a follow on PR. I can do so after this PR is 
merged



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,387 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline for each vector is:
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[])                             |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.
+
+##### Fast Rounding
+
+The `fast_round` function uses a "magic number" technique for branchless 
rounding.
+
+`fast_round(value)` is defined as follows:
+
+| Type   | Magic Number                      | Formula                         
 |
+|--------|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
+| FLOAT  | 2^22 + 2^23 = 12,582,912         | `(int32_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` |
+| DOUBLE | 2^51 + 2^52 = 6,755,399,441,055,744 | `(int64_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` |

Review Comment:
   > Known implementations (C++/DuckDB, Java) use sign branching:
   
   @iemejia can you please provide  example / evidence for this this statement?
   
   The three implementatons I could find all use brancless code (I found not 
find any check for sign) -- they simply add then subtract the magic number
   
   # DuckDB's implementation of ALP (C++)
   
https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/blob/68d73b7c3a85a8907909cf6d4b6533f83a45496d/src/include/duckdb/storage/compression/alp/algorithm/alp.hpp#L118-L134
   
   # SpiralDB's implementation of ALP (Rust) 
   
https://github.com/spiraldb/alp/blob/d797ba56f980f83657bf6b812f88714ebe3ed674/src/alp/mod.rs#L70-L74
   
   # cwida/ALP (reference implementation from the paper authors) 
   
https://github.com/cwida/ALP/blob/31ca0ed11c93c99d3f5b5c30e01a3e1c3832d3ce/include/alp/encoder.hpp#L87



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,423 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline below describes *one* way to produce a conforming
+vector. It is informative, not normative: an encoder may use any strategy as 
long
+as it emits the byte layout defined in [Page Layout](#page-layout). Only that
+byte layout and the [Decoding](#decoding) procedure are normative.
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[:])                            |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+The `fast_round` used in step 2 is defined precisely in
+[Fast Rounding](#fast-rounding) below, including the exact magic-number values
+and the sign branching required for negative values.
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+A vector's absolute byte position within the page is
+`page_data_start + 7 + offset`, where `page_data_start` is the first byte after
+the page's Thrift header and `7` is the size of the ALP header.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding. When the total number of packed bits 
is
+not a multiple of 8, the final byte is padded with zero bits in its most
+significant positions.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.
+The power-of-10 constants MUST be the correctly-rounded IEEE 754 values of the
+decimal literals `1e0`, `1e1`, ..., `1e18` and `1e-1`, `1e-2`, ..., `1e-18` as
+defined by the decimal-to-binary conversion in IEEE 754-2008 §5.12.2.
+Implementations MUST NOT compute these constants at runtime via `pow()` or
+equivalent functions, which are not guaranteed to be correctly rounded.
+
+##### Fast Rounding
+
+The `fast_round` function uses a "magic number" technique for branchless 
rounding.

Review Comment:
   > It's not branchless if there's a sign branching involved.
   
   Yes, this is confusing. The original paper (and the last time I reviewed 
this spec implementation) did not have this branching. I don't the branching is 
necessary and the explanation is very confusing (if not  incorrect -- see my 
comments on this thread 
https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/pull/557#discussion_r3292628978)
   
   > We should also explain why this function is useful or necessary. What is 
the expected rounding mode? Halfway to even?
   
   I believe the rationale is to "recover the intended integer after computing 
`value * 10^e * 10^-f` which introduces mathematical noise due to floating 
point arithmetic
   
   This is not well explained in the original paper either, which perhaps lead 
to the confusion in this section
   
   From my reading,  this part of the spec is normative anyway. Since it isn't 
called on the decode path,  encoders can use a different method (like the 
original branchless  version) and still produce conformant files
   
   Thus I don't think my concerns with this section are blocking; However, as 
written I now find it quite misleading and it would be good to clarify / fix 
this
   
   
   



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,409 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline for each vector is:
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[])                             |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.
+The power-of-10 constants MUST be the correctly-rounded IEEE 754 values of the
+decimal literals `1e0`, `1e1`, ..., `1e18` and `1e-1`, `1e-2`, ..., `1e-18` as
+defined by the decimal-to-binary conversion in IEEE 754-2008 §5.12.2.
+Implementations MUST NOT compute these constants at runtime via `pow()` or
+equivalent functions, which are not guaranteed to be correctly rounded.
+
+##### Fast Rounding
+
+The `fast_round` function uses a "magic number" technique for branchless 
rounding.
+
+`fast_round(value)` is defined as follows:
+
+| Type   | Magic Number                      | Formula (value &ge; 0)          
 | Formula (value &lt; 0)           |
+|--------|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
+| FLOAT  | 2^22 + 2^23 = 12,582,912         | `(int32_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` | `(int32_t)((value - magic) + magic)` |
+| DOUBLE | 2^51 + 2^52 = 6,755,399,441,055,744 | `(int64_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` | `(int64_t)((value - magic) + magic)` |
+
+The sign branching is necessary because the technique relies on `value ± magic`
+landing in a binade where the unit in the last place (ULP) equals 1.0. For
+non-negative values, `value + magic` lands in [2^23, 2^24) for floats or
+[2^52, 2^53) for doubles. For negative values, `value - magic` lands in
+[-2^24, -2^23) or [-2^53, -2^52) respectively, where ULP is also 1.0. Without
+sign branching, negative values with magnitude beyond 2^22 (float) or 2^51
+(double) fall into a lower binade where ULP &lt; 1.0, producing incorrect
+rounding and a higher exception rate.
+
+##### Parameter Selection
+
+Any valid (exponent, factor) pair produces a correct encoding — the decoder is
+agnostic to the selection strategy, and the exception mechanism guarantees
+round-trip fidelity regardless of which pair is chosen. The choice only affects
+compression ratio.
+
+The encoder SHOULD select the (exponent, factor) pair that produces the 
smallest
+encoded output. A simple heuristic is to minimize exception count; a more 
precise
+approach accounts for both bit-width and exception overhead.
+
+Valid combinations satisfy 0 &le; factor &le; exponent:
+
+| Type   | Max Exponent | Total Combinations |
+|--------|--------------|--------------------|
+| FLOAT  | 10           | 66                 |
+| DOUBLE | 18           | 190                |
+
+To avoid the cost of exhaustive search on every vector, implementations
+can use a sampling approach. One such approach, described in the paper, is to
+select up to 5 candidate (exponent, factor) combinations (the "encoding 
preset")
+at the start of each column chunk, and when encoding each vector,
+evaluate each candidate for the best compression.
+
+Suggested sampling parameters (from the paper):
+
+| Parameter            | Value | Description                         |
+|----------------------|-------|-------------------------------------|
+| Sample Size          | 256   | Values sampled per vector           |
+| Max Combinations     | 5     | Best (e,f) pairs kept in preset     |
+| Sample Vectors       | 8     | Vectors sampled per row group       |
+
+##### Exception Detection
+
+A value becomes an exception if any of the following is true:
+
+| Condition          | Example                    | Reason                     
      |
+|--------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------------|
+| NaN                | `NaN`                      | Cannot convert to integer  
      |
+| Infinity           | `+Inf`, `-Inf`             | Cannot convert to integer  
      |
+| Negative zero      | `-0.0`                     | Would become `+0.0` after 
encoding |
+| Out of range       | scaled value outside int32 (FLOAT) or int64 (DOUBLE) | 
Exceeds target integer type range |
+| Round-trip failure  | `0.333...` with e=1, f=0  | `decode(encode(v)) != v`   
      |
+
+Exception values at positions in the vector are replaced with a placeholder
+(the encoded integer of the first non-exception value, or 0 if all values
+are exceptions) before FOR encoding. This keeps the FOR range tight.
+
+##### Example: Frame of Reference and Bit-Packing
+
+Given the following data after decimal encoding and exception substitution:
+
+```
++---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|  Encoded:   [ 123,  456,  789,   12 ]                               |
+|                                                                     |
+|  min_val = 12  (stored as frame_of_reference)                       |
+|                                                                     |
+|  Deltas:    [ 111,  444,  777,    0 ]   <-- all non-negative        |
++---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+| Step                   | Formula                               | Example     
                |
+|------------------------|---------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
+| 1. Find min            | min\_val = min(encoded\[\])           | 12          
                |
+| 2. Compute deltas      | delta\[i\] = encoded\[i\] - min\_val | \[111, 444, 
777, 0\]       |
+| 3. Calculate bit width | bit\_width = ceil(log2(max\_delta+1)) | 
ceil(log2(778)) = 10       |
+| 4. Pack values         | Each value uses bit\_width bits       | 4 * 10 = 40 
bits = 5 bytes |
+
+Special case: If all values are identical, bit\_width = 0 and no packed data 
is stored.
+
+#### Decoding
+
+```
+                    Input: Serialized vector bytes
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. BIT UNPACKING                                        |
+    |     Unpack num_elements values at bit_width bits each    |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. REVERSE FOR                                          |
+    |     encoded[i] = delta[i] + frame_of_reference           |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. DECIMAL DECODING                                     |
+    |     value[i] = encoded[i] * 10^factor * 10^(-exponent)   |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. PATCH EXCEPTIONS                                     |
+    |     value[pos[j]] = exception_values[j]                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                  Output: Original float/double array
+```
+
+For each vector:
+
+1. Read AlpInfo and ForInfo from the vector header.
+2. Unpack `bit_width`-bit integers from PackedValues.
+3. Add `frame_of_reference` to each unpacked integer.
+4. Decode: multiply each integer by `10^factor` then by `10^(-exponent)`.
+5. Patch exceptions: for each (position, value) in the exception arrays,
+   overwrite the decoded output at that position with the stored value.
+
+#### Worked Example: Exceptions and Non-Zero Factor
+
+**Input:** `double values[4] = { 1500.0, NaN, 2500.0, 333.3 }`
+
+Best encoding found: (exponent=4, factor=3). This means:
+`encoded = fast_round(value * 10^4 * 10^(-3)) = fast_round(value * 10)`
+
+**Step 1: Decimal Encoding**
+
+| Index | Value   | value * 10^4 * 10^(-3) | Rounded | Decoded: rounded * 10^3 
* 10^(-4) | Exception? |
+|-------|---------|------------------------|---------|------------------------------------|------------|
+| 0     | 1500.0  | 15000.0                | 15000   | 1500.0                  
           | No         |
+| 1     | NaN     | -                      | -       | -                       
           | Yes (NaN)  |
+| 2     | 2500.0  | 25000.0                | 25000   | 2500.0                  
           | No         |
+| 3     | 333.3   | 3333.0                 | 3333    | 333.3                   
           | No         |
+
+**Step 2: Handle Exceptions**
+
+Exception positions: \[1\]
+Exception values: \[NaN\]
+Placeholder: 15000 (first non-exception encoded value)
+Encoded with placeholders: \[15000, 15000, 25000, 3333\]
+
+**Step 3: Frame of Reference**
+
+| Encoded            | min = 3333 | Delta |
+|--------------------|------------|-------|
+| 15000              | -          | 11667 |
+| 15000 (placeholder)| -          | 11667 |
+| 25000              | -          | 21667 |
+| 3333               | -          | 0     |
+
+**Step 4: Bit Packing**
+
+max\_delta = 21667, bit\_width = ceil(log2(21668)) = 15 bits,
+packed\_size = ceil(4 * 15 / 8) = 8 bytes

Review Comment:
   I agree adding hex values doesn't seem like it would add much



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,423 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline below describes *one* way to produce a conforming
+vector. It is informative, not normative: an encoder may use any strategy as 
long
+as it emits the byte layout defined in [Page Layout](#page-layout). Only that
+byte layout and the [Decoding](#decoding) procedure are normative.
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[:])                            |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+The `fast_round` used in step 2 is defined precisely in
+[Fast Rounding](#fast-rounding) below, including the exact magic-number values
+and the sign branching required for negative values.
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+A vector's absolute byte position within the page is
+`page_data_start + 7 + offset`, where `page_data_start` is the first byte after
+the page's Thrift header and `7` is the size of the ALP header.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding. When the total number of packed bits 
is
+not a multiple of 8, the final byte is padded with zero bits in its most
+significant positions.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.
+The power-of-10 constants MUST be the correctly-rounded IEEE 754 values of the
+decimal literals `1e0`, `1e1`, ..., `1e18` and `1e-1`, `1e-2`, ..., `1e-18` as
+defined by the decimal-to-binary conversion in IEEE 754-2008 §5.12.2.
+Implementations MUST NOT compute these constants at runtime via `pow()` or
+equivalent functions, which are not guaranteed to be correctly rounded.
+
+##### Fast Rounding
+
+The `fast_round` function uses a "magic number" technique for branchless 
rounding.
+
+`fast_round(value)` is defined as follows:
+
+| Type   | Magic Number                      | Formula (value &ge; 0)          
 | Formula (value &lt; 0)           |
+|--------|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
+| FLOAT  | 2^22 + 2^23 = 12,582,912         | `(int32_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` | `(int32_t)((value - magic) + magic)` |
+| DOUBLE | 2^51 + 2^52 = 6,755,399,441,055,744 | `(int64_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` | `(int64_t)((value - magic) + magic)` |
+
+The sign branching is necessary because the technique relies on `value ± magic`

Review Comment:
   This doesn't make any sense to me. It seems like an overly complicated 
argument with fancy terms that ultimately isn't useful in the context of ALP 
and has no empirical justification
   
   See my comment/question on the original thread here:  
https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/pull/557#discussion_r3292628978



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,387 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline for each vector is:
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[])                             |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.

Review Comment:
   > This requirement is not actionable without specifying the actual constant 
values. 
   
   I don't agree that this requirement is not actionable (we have at least two 
implementations that didn't seem to have any trouble figuring out `1e0` and 
`1e2` man. 
   
   > (b) specify that constants MUST match the values produced by the standard 
decimal-to-binary conversion of the literals 1e0, 1e1, ..., 1e18 and 1e-0, 
1e-1, ..., 1e-18 as defined by
   
   I think that would be ok, but to be honest I don't think any more 
clarification is needed here



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -38,14 +38,14 @@ For details on current implementation status, see the 
[Implementation Status](ht
 | [Delta-length byte array](#DELTALENGTH)          | DELTA_LENGTH_BYTE_ARRAY = 
6                               | BYTE_ARRAY                                    
    |
 | [Delta Strings](#DELTASTRING)                    | DELTA_BYTE_ARRAY = 7      
                                | BYTE_ARRAY, FIXED_LEN_BYTE_ARRAY              
    |
 | [Byte Stream Split](#BYTESTREAMSPLIT)            | BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT = 9     
                                | INT32, INT64, FLOAT, DOUBLE, 
FIXED_LEN_BYTE_ARRAY |
+| [ALP](#ALP)                                      | ALP = 10                  
                                | FLOAT, DOUBLE                                 
    |

Review Comment:
   It would be interesting to research as a next step in my opinion
   
   The fixed length byte array (FLBA) seems unlikely to benefit from ALP (which 
is specifically designed to recognize values that are encoded using floating 
point that could be more efficiently represented as fixed precision decimals
   
   FP16/FP8 could be helped, for decimal data that is stored in that type of 
column; However I think those types are often used for ML type usecases where 
the data uses the full range of the types, as I understand



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,387 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline for each vector is:
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[])                             |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.
+
+##### Fast Rounding
+
+The `fast_round` function uses a "magic number" technique for branchless 
rounding.
+
+`fast_round(value)` is defined as follows:
+
+| Type   | Magic Number                      | Formula                         
 |
+|--------|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
+| FLOAT  | 2^22 + 2^23 = 12,582,912         | `(int32_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` |
+| DOUBLE | 2^51 + 2^52 = 6,755,399,441,055,744 | `(int64_t)((value + magic) - 
magic)` |

Review Comment:
   > Without sign branching, negative values with magnitude beyond 2^22 (float) 
or 2^51 (double) fall into a lower binade and round incorrectly — silently 
increasing the exception rate.
   
   Can you please provide some examples where encoding using the signed version 
would correctly recover the intended value but the unsigned version would not?
   
   What is the evidence that the exception rate would be higher?



##########
Encodings.md:
##########
@@ -391,3 +391,387 @@ After applying the transformation, the data has the 
following representation:
 ```
 Bytes  AA 00 A3 BB 11 B4 CC 22 C5 DD 33 D6
 ```
+
+<a name="ALP"></a>
+### Adaptive Lossless floating-Point: (ALP = 10)
+
+Supported Types: FLOAT, DOUBLE
+
+This encoding is adapted from the paper
+["ALP: Adaptive Lossless floating-Point 
Compression"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626717)
+by Afroozeh and Boncz (SIGMOD 2024).
+
+ALP works by converting floating-point values to integers using decimal scaling
+(controlled by an *exponent* `e` and *factor* `f`), then applying Frame of
+Reference (FOR) encoding and bit-packing. Values that cannot be losslessly
+converted are stored separately as *exceptions*. The encoding achieves high
+compression for decimal-like floating-point data (e.g., monetary values, sensor
+readings) while remaining fully lossless. Each value is encoded independently,
+enabling random access to individual values and parallel encode/decode.
+
+#### Overview
+
+ALP encoding consists of a page-level header followed by an offset array and 
one
+or more encoded vectors (batches of values). Each vector contains up to
+`vector_size` elements (default 1024).
+
+```
++-------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
+|   Header    |        Offset Array         |            Vector Data           
    |
+|  (7 bytes)  |   (num_vectors * 4 bytes)   |            (variable)            
    |
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+| Page Header | off0 | off1 | ... | off N-1 | Vector 0 | Vector 1 | ... | Vec 
N-1  |
+|  (7 bytes)  | (4B) | (4B) |     |  (4B)   |(variable)|(variable)|     
|(variable)|
++-------------+------+------+-----+---------+----------+----------+-----+----------+
+```
+
+The compression pipeline for each vector is:
+
+```
+                    Input: float/double array
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  1. CHOOSE PARAMETERS                                    |
+    |     Select (exponent, factor) pair for this vector       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  2. DECIMAL ENCODING                                     |
+    |     encoded[i] = fast_round(value[i] * 10^e * 10^(-f))  |
+    |     Detect exceptions where decode(encode(v)) != v       |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  3. FRAME OF REFERENCE (FOR)                             |
+    |     min_val = min(encoded[])                             |
+    |     delta[i] = encoded[i] - min_val                      |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+    |  4. BIT PACKING                                          |
+    |     bit_width = ceil(log2(max_delta + 1))                |
+    |     Pack each delta into bit_width bits                  |
+    +----------------------------------------------------------+
+                              |
+                              v
+                   Output: Serialized vector bytes
+```
+
+#### Page Layout
+
+##### Header (7 bytes)
+
+All multi-byte values are stored in little-endian order.
+
+```
+ Byte:    0              1               2              3    4    5    6
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+       | compression    | integer       | log_vector   |     num_elements  |
+       | _mode          | _encoding     | _size        |     (int32 LE)    |
+       +----------------+---------------+--------------+----+----+----+----+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | compression_mode | 1 byte | uint8 | Compression mode (0 = ALP). Reserved 
for future variants (e.g., ALP-RD). |
+| 1 | integer_encoding | 1 byte | uint8 | Integer encoding (must be 0 = FOR + 
bit-packing) |
+| 2 | log_vector_size | 1 byte | uint8 | log2(vector\_size). Must be in the 
inclusive range \[3, 15\]. Recommended default: 10 (vector size 1024) |
+| 3 | num_elements | 4 bytes | int32 | Total number of floating-point values 
in the page |
+
+The number of vectors is `ceil(num_elements / vector_size)`. The last vector 
may
+contain fewer than `vector_size` elements.
+
+**Note:** The number of elements per vector is NOT stored in the header — it is
+derived: `vector_size` for all vectors except the last, which may be smaller.
+
+##### Offset Array
+
+Immediately following the header is an array of `num_vectors` little-endian 
uint32
+values. Each offset gives the byte position of the corresponding vector's data,
+measured from the start of the offset array itself.
+
+The first offset always equals `num_vectors * 4` (pointing just past the 
offset array).
+Each subsequent offset equals the previous offset plus the stored size of the
+previous vector. No padding is inserted between vectors.
+
+##### Vector Format
+
+Each vector is self-describing and contains the encoding parameters, FOR 
metadata,
+bit-packed encoded values, and exception data.
+
+```
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+|      AlpInfo      |     ForInfo     |   PackedValues    | ExceptionPositions 
 | ExceptionValues   |
+|     (4 bytes)     | (5B or 9B)      |    (variable)     |     (variable)     
 |    (variable)     |
++-------------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------------+
+```
+
+Vector header sizes:
+| Type   | AlpInfo | ForInfo | Total Header |
+|--------|---------|---------|--------------|
+| FLOAT  | 4 bytes | 5 bytes | 9 bytes      |
+| DOUBLE | 4 bytes | 9 bytes | 13 bytes     |
+
+Data section sizes:
+| Section             | Size Formula                | Description              
    |
+|---------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
+| PackedValues        | ceil(num\_elements\_in\_vector * bit\_width / 8) | 
Bit-packed delta values      |
+| ExceptionPositions  | num\_exceptions * 2 bytes   | uint16 indices of 
exceptions |
+| ExceptionValues     | num\_exceptions * sizeof(encoded type) (float=4 and 
double=8) | Original float/double values |
+
+###### AlpInfo (4 bytes, both types)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0           1          2       3
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+       | exponent |  factor  |  num_exceptions   |
+       |  (uint8) | (uint8)  |   (uint16 LE)     |
+       +----------+----------+---------+---------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | exponent | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 exponent *e*. Range: \[0, 10\] 
for FLOAT, \[0, 18\] for DOUBLE. |
+| 1 | factor | 1 byte | uint8 | Power-of-10 factor *f*. Range: \[0, *e*\]. |
+| 2 | num_exceptions | 2 bytes | uint16 | Number of exception values in this 
vector. |
+
+###### ForInfo for FLOAT (5 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3       4
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       | frame_of_reference | bit_width |
+       |    (int32 LE)      |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 4 bytes | int32 | Minimum encoded integer in the 
vector |
+| 4 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 32\]. |
+
+###### ForInfo for DOUBLE (9 bytes)
+
+```
+ Byte:    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7       8
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+       |          frame_of_reference           | bit_width |
+       |              (int64 LE)               |  (uint8)  |
+       +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----------+
+```
+
+| Offset | Field | Size | Type | Description |
+|--------|-------|------|------|-------------|
+| 0 | frame_of_reference | 8 bytes | int64 | Minimum encoded long in the 
vector |
+| 8 | bit_width | 1 byte | uint8 | Bits per packed value. Range: \[0, 64\]. |
+
+###### PackedValues
+
+The FOR-encoded deltas, bit-packed into `ceil(num_elements_in_vector * 
bit_width / 8)` bytes.
+Values are bit-packed using the same LSB-first packing order as the
+[RLE/Bit-Packing Hybrid](#RLE) encoding.
+
+If `bit_width` is 0, no bytes are stored (all deltas are zero, meaning all 
encoded
+integers are equal to `frame_of_reference`).
+
+###### ExceptionPositions
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` little-endian uint16 values, each giving
+the 0-based index within the vector of an exception value.
+
+###### ExceptionValues
+
+An array of `num_exceptions` values in the original floating-point type
+(4 bytes little-endian IEEE 754 for FLOAT, 8 bytes for DOUBLE), stored in
+the same order as the corresponding positions.
+
+#### Encoding
+
+##### Encoding Formula
+
+```
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                                                   |
+|   encoded = fast_round( value  *  10^e  *  10^(-f) )             |
+|                                                                   |
+|   decoded = encoded  *  10^f  *  10^(-e)                          |
+|                                                                   |
++-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+The encoding uses two separate multiplications (not a single multiplication by
+`10^(e-f)`, and not division) to ensure that implementations produce identical
+floating-point results. All implementations MUST use the exact same 
floating-point
+arithmetic and power-of-10 constants to guarantee cross-language 
interoperability.

Review Comment:
   > Do we have a test case or two where we know pow() produces an incorrect 
value in some cases? Then we could add a table of test values to help catch the 
issue.
   
   Given the spec doesn't call for `pow()` I the the discussion about the exact 
numeric representation of `pow()` is somewhat distracting -- I recommend we 
leave the spec as is



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