Codes on finite geometries

New algebraic methods for constructing codes based on hyperplanes of two different dimensions in finite geometries are presented. The new construction methods result in a class of multistep majority-logic decodable codes and three classes of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. Decoding methods for the class of majority-logic decodable codes, and a class of codes that perform well with iterative decoding in spite of having many cycles of length 4 in their Tanner graphs, are presented. Most of the codes constructed can be either put in cyclic or quasi-cyclic form and hence their encoding can be implemented with linear shift registers.