Shadow codes and weight enumerators

The technique of using shadow codes to build larger self-dual codes is extended to codes over arbitrary fields. It is shown how to build the codes and how to determine the new weight enumerator as well. For codes over fields equipped with a square root of -1 and not of characteristic 2, a self-dual code of length n+2 can be built from a self-dual code of length n; for codes over a field without a square root of -1 and not of characteristic 2 a self-dual code of length n+4 is built from a self-dual code of length n; and for codes over fields of characteristic 2 the length of the new self-dual code depends on the presence of the all-one vector in the subcode chosen. In certain cases using the subcode of vectors orthogonal to the all-one vector, the new weight enumerator can be calculated directly from the original weight enumerator. Specific examples of the technique are illustrated for codes over F₃, F₄, and F₅