Codes Over the p-adic Integers

We study codes over the p-adic integers and correct errors in the existing literature. We show that MDS codes exist over the p-adics for all lengths, ranks and p. We show that self-dual codes exist over the 2-adics if and only if the length is a multiple of 8 and that self-dual codes exist over the p-adics with p odd if and only if the length is 0 (mod 4) for p ≡ 3 (mod 4) and 0 (mod 2) for p ≡ 1 (mod 4).